Descartes and Dreaming - Essay Example

What he was actually hinting at was the fact that although the concept of sensation could be utilized for different ideas, a difference could take place from other points of view on the object in discussion. In other words, states of being that were realized through the experience of sensation could in fact be found to be an actual illusion. Such as with dreaming. An individual might sense that they are awake and lucid but in actuality they are still dreaming, so, according to Descartes there is no factual way to prove when a person is awake and when they are dreaming, all the time.

However, Descartes admittedly pointed out that sense perception did hold value for some states of being. For example, if you are clothed and sitting at the table having a meal with your family, this can not be denied because your senses prove this is what you are doing. You can feel the morsels of food pass your lips, and go down as you swallow. In this regard, senses can be found to be a valid way of discovering the truth (Monarch Notes 1963). Descartes had the renowned ability to make a person question the truth in the most valid of concepts.

As with knowledge, he asked how a person could know for a certainty how the intelligence that they possessed could actually hold any truth How do you know for a certainty This can phase back into the idea of being asleep and dreaming and being in a state of wakefulness. Descartes would ask, "How do you really know" (Monarch Notes 1963). Therefore, sense knowledge alone can not be counted upon to fulfill all the requirements needed to prove the truth to a specific state of being, object, or even a persons existence.

If this was totally relied upon, one would never fully know when they were awake or asleep because the senses can fool you. The senses form a type of illusion over the mind in a dreaming state, so in this regard a persons rationalization would be clouded and not wholly fact based. Because it is understood that sense impression is independent of free will, a dream state can not be for certain, nor can a wakeful state (Monarch Notes 1963). However, since human beings are rational thinkers, and we can rationalize the idea of wakefulness, humans thus have the ability to be able to discuss the feelings of being awake and interpret the concept.

Nevertheless, in a state of sleep, human beings are not aware when they go to sleep and because of that can not logically state when they are asleep, even though they might be (Kumar 2001). For example, the experience of a dream within a dream has taken place with more than one person. In this type of state you feel your awake when you really are still asleep. So, the senses can be very tricky and inaccurate when trying to solve certain questions about life, spirituality, and objects. It appears that Descartes is right in his belief that there truly is no accurate way to state for sure when an individual is really asleep, and when they actually move into wakefulness.

Not if a person is looking for definitive proof, anyway. The same is true for dreaming. Though people do dream (as this has been researched), individually a person can not know that they are dreaming because they can't even prove they are asleep. Dreaming and sleeping or not conscious thoughts, and therein lies the reasoning why they can not be proven when they