Descartes Meditations On First Philosophy Essay

INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY, ESSAY 2: Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy Descartes’ main goal in his book, Meditations on First Philosophy, is to chase certainty, what is not doubtful or questionable. He also questions the idea of God; he is not certain of God’s existence. Even more, if God exists, can he be deceived? In addition to questioning everything, he also is questioning the senses. He would learn what is right could be wrong, so to accomplish such reasoning, Descartes states that he would need to look at the fundamental structure or foundations of his beliefs. Through a series of meditations, Descartes will reach his inner independence and his goal to reach certainty for his existence. Meditation one is open to skepticism, Descartes focuses on doubt, consequently he affirms that you need to doubt anything that needs doubting. Furthermore, he has detached himself from everything he knows to be true, thenceforward he would start from the bottom with a much sturdier foundation. He would rebuild his foundation of what he does not yet know. Thus, what is known should be exposed to questioning and doubt. Moreover, Descartes stated you cannot trust your dreams, dreaming is a roadblock. Seeing the senses as active, even when dreaming, it can be difficult to deduce for to distinguish when awakened or asleep, so you can’t trust the senses. What s more, he mentions, you can’t trust your memory, for your dreams are implanted in your memories, in effect your sensesShow MoreRelatedDescartes Meditations On First Philosophy807 Words   |  4 PagesConner Ruhl Professor Copley Philosophy 1000C 4 May 2015 Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy Rene Descartes was the first great philosopher of the modern era, He had a new approach which was focused on scientific and mathematical truths. Descartes came to reject the scholastic tradition, one of which he was educated, due to his pursuit of mathematical and scientific truth. 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