How Descartes Represents a New Philosophical Beginning - Essay Example

?Explain how Descartes represents a new philosophical beginning. In his influential treatise en d “Meditations on First Philosophy” Descartes embarks on a venture that in retrospect marks a whole new philosophical beginning. It is not so much the results of this treatise that are so stunning, since many of them rest on earlier philosophies of the Greeks and Medieval scholars, but what was so remarkable in the middle of the seventeenth century was his introduction of a whole new approach to the subject. Cahn explains in his introduction to Descartes’ text, that inspiration to make this huge step came from Descartes’ expertise in mathematics: “Like Plato before him, Descartes believes that through training in mathematics the mind becomes capable of engaging in philosophical thought. In mathematics, we encounter absolute certainty, according to Descartes.” (Kitcher, 2006, p. 482) His search for this absolute certainty in the field of philosophy begins with a radical rejection of all beliefs, perceptions and assumptions and a completely blank page on which he attempts to build up a new logical train of thought. This paper considers the steps that Descartes takes to distance himself from traditional ways of thinking and the nature of his radical new approach. The starting point that Descartes chooses is in keeping with the religious conventions of the time, since he addresses his work to “those Most Wise and Distinguished men, the Deans and Doctors of the Faculty of Sacred Theology of Paris” (Descartes, p. 484) and he quotes the Bible and the Lateran Council of 1512-1517 to show that he is familiar with matters of the faith. His use of radical scepticism is presented as different approach to both physical and metaphysical problems and he implies that his intention is to follow a path of discovery which will be different from, but not contradictory to, articles of faith which are taught by the established Christian Church. Since the turn of the seventeenth century the Medieval mind-set of the Church had been badly shaken, first by the reformation and consequent debates and schisms across Europe, and secondly by a whole host of scientific discoveries that raised interesting questions about man’s place in the universe. Nowadays we call this major shift in world view “the Enlightenment.” In the first section of his treatise Descartes applies his radical scepticism to religion and science alike, suspending all that he has been taught, and coming down to the fundamental observation that the human being is made of two separate substances: the mind, which is immaterial and capable of thinking, and the body, which is corporal and capable of using the physical senses to apprehend and interact with the world. He considers how unreliable the senses are, and concludes that the only thing that he is absolutely certain of, is the fact that he is thinking with his mind. Body, senses and everything else are laid to one side and he concentrates on this thinking part of himself. In the second section he formulates his most famous saying “cogito ergo sum: I think, therefore I am” (Descartes, p. 492) which shows that existence is derived from thinking, and not from anything outside the self that is thinking. This is a big departure from the teachings of the Church, which had traditionally placed itself in the role of teacher and authority on all matters. Thanks to the reformation there was a much greater focus on the individual, and Descartes latches on to this to stress both the mental activity that human beings are capable of, but also the fact that we are self-aware when we are engaged in this activity. All that exists around that thinking self is an illusion, and the only absolutely certain thing is the individual and his ability to understand and to reason. The third section elaborates this point: “I am a thing that thinks, that is to say a thing that doubts, affirms, denies, understands a few things, is ignorant of many things, refrains from willing, and also imagines and senses.” (Descartes, p. 496) The concept of god is introduced here, as a way of explaining the world that is outside the self. Something had to cause this to come into being, and that higher, supremely perfect thing which causes the world to exist is god. As an imperfect, finite being, he argues, there is no way that he could conceive of this higher being unless the idea was planted there by that higher being. Since something cannot come from nothing, there is a causal stricture at work here, and this provides the evidence for the existence of god. Descartes argues that god cannot be a deceiver because perfection and deception are incompatible (Descartes, p. 502) and this gives him the evidence of two certain things: his thinking self and god. In a further logical step in section four Descartes explains how error and falseness arise in the world. He distinguishes between human will, and human understanding, and points out that sometimes there is a gap between the two, when the will pushes us to go beyond what we are able to understand. This occurs because human beings are finite and cannot grasp everything. Section five provides an ontological argument to prove that god exists and this can be summarized as follows: he is the most perfect being that we can conceive, and it is more perfect to exist than not to exist, and therefore god must exist. Once god exists, then it is possible to understand the physical world in terms of creation by god. All the laws and concepts of mathematics and science flow out from this concept of god, and in section six Descartes leads the reader back to an appreciation of the physical world through the mental state of understanding. This is not the same as dreaming (Descartes, p. 516) because his mind can distinguish between rational thinking and dreaming. Thus Descartes creates a logical train of argument using reason alone to explain human existence and the universe and in so doing set off a new chapter of philosophy as others adopted similar rational approaches to all kinds of philosophical problems. References Cahn, Stephen M. (ed.) Classics of Western Philosophy. 7th edition. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 2006. Descartes, Rene. Meditations on First Philosophy. In Stephen M. Cahn, (ed.) Classics of Western Philosophy. 7th edition. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 2006, pp. 484- Kitcher, Patricia. “Rene Descartes.” In Stephen M. Cahn, (ed.) Classics of Western Philosophy. 7th edition. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 2006, pp. 482-483. Read More