Plato and Descartes theories - Essay Example

Topic: Lecturer: Presentation: Plato and Descartes Plato and Descartes are associated with the rationalistictheory of knowledge. Many philosophers try to explain how knowledge is acquired, the extent of our knowledge and how reliability of the knowledge can be judged. Some claim that we cannot be certain of what we know but Plato and Descartes went a long way to explore and evaluate various ways in which certainty of knowledge can be gained. They therefore came up with a rationalistic theory of knowledge which declares that absolutely certain knowledge cannot be acquired through sense experience but only through the soul and mind (Popkin and Stroll, 240).

Though both seem to represent similar ideas, they are different in some ways which will be discussed in the paper. Plato Plato is of the view that knowledge is not acquired through sense experience; individuals are born with platonic ideas or forms (Popkin and Stroll, 225). These ideas are contained in the soul which exists prior to birth. To gain real knowledge, the soul has to recall platonic ideas. Plato assumes that children forget the knowledge they already have at birth and therefore, must regain consciousness and recall it.

The knowledge recalled is the only true or certain knowledge since the knowledge acquired through sense experience is deceiving and uncertain. For him, the body is empty as it cannot access abstract reality of the world but only shadows (Robinson, 86). The soul and body are distinct but temporarily united until death where the soul leaves to occupy another body. He also observes that the forms or objects of knowledge are eternal, necessary and unchanging (Popkin & Stroll, 224). For example, numbers used in mathematics or geometrical truths which depend on ideas and meanings do not change.

The shadows or diagrams can change but the procedures and reasoning lead us to acquire the truth about them.Descartes Just like Plato, he agrees that senses cannot be trusted. Whatever we see through our senses can be deceiving and therefore not certain; for example, we may mistake one thing for another especially if we view it at a distance and when it is near. Senses are deceiving to the extent that we may not be aware whether we are existing or we are dreaming of our existence and therefore, to be certain, a lot of thinking is needed (Pessin).

According to Popkin and Stroll (234) Descartes discovered that the certain thing is ‘I think, therefore I am.” In his meditations, he doubted whether he had a body but had no doubt that he had a mind since a mind must be in existence for him to think. He therefore, came up with the idea that the body and mind were distinct and that the ideas in the mind were innate and certain or true (Robinson, 85). Another truth discovered by Descartes is that God exists as a perfect being and that he is the giver of ideas in the mind (Popkin and Stroll, 237).

He was convinced that mathematical ideas and ideas about God were innate and not implanted in the mind by the life events. He also asserts that all the other things people do which are not implanted in mind by God are imperfect and uncertain since they are created through our sense experience or by people who are not perfect hence can be deceiving. For him, the only knowledge that we can have complete faith in is the knowledge given to us by God since H e cannot be a deceiver; He is perfect (Pessin).

True knowledge according to Descartes, deals with clear and distinct innate ideas hence mathematical ideas or knowledge is true. Plato and Descartes argue that the soul or mind is immortal and can access universal truths since it doesn’t exist in time and space as the body. They also believe that true knowledge is within us in form of innate ideas which are not acquired but given at birth. They also believe that what we know as certain through various rationalistic procedures is the real world (Popkin and Stroll, 244).

The only difference between the two is use of the soul and mind. ReferencesPessin, A. ‘Descartes Theory of Ideas,’ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Accessed May 10, 2012 from, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-ideas/Popkin, R., Stroll, A. Philosophy Made Simple. 3rd ed. UK: Elsevier, 1993. Robinson, H. “Dualism,” In S. Stitch., T. Warfield, The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Mind. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003.