Descartes' Method of Doubt - Essay Example

René Descartes adopted the Method of Doubt to reach the truth. He felt reason should follow and arrive at certain philosophical truths. In the Third Meditation, Descartes proves the existence of God and the immortality of the soul. Descartes’ argument for the existence of God hinges on the belief that God is "eternal, infinite, omniscient, omnipotent, and the creator of all things that exist apart from him". Descartes’ argues that he is himself finite (doubts and lacks and therefore imperfect) and hence he could not create such an idea of himself (Piercey, n.d.). He therefore concludes that this idea has been created and implanted by some power above him and that power is God. The proof of God’s existence relies on two different causal laws, which state that any event must have a cause at least as great or as real as it. This is manifest by the natural light. The effect can get the reality from the cause and that cause is God. The law of cause and effect applies to idea as well. He therefore concludes that God exists. The same argument does not hold that hippogriffs or unicorns exist because these are just ideas and ideas can be false. Descartes further argues that I think, therefore I am. It is not because of the body but because of the mind that he thinks he has a being; he is a thinking thing, not the material body. He has a body, which by some special rights he calls as his, but he is not the body. He merely has a distinct idea of a body as a non-thinking thing. He firmly concludes that he is distinct from the body and can exist without it. I disagree with Descartes’ theory I think therefore I am. He maintains that the body is not him; the body is merely a non-thinking being and it belongs to him. He seems to combine dualism and union at times. According to me, the mind is with us only as long as the body exists. Just as the body under heat loses its form, shape, and size, the mind too vanishes. The body may not be me but the mind too is not me. The mind is there for the body to function, without which the body ceases to function. The body may be physically seen but it cannot function. This is proved by the fact that mentally challenged people cannot transmit messages to the body to act and hence they are known as mad or whatever the numerous mental diseases. How can the mind explain, I think therefore I am, if it is isolated from the body? Anything that is created has to perish; both mind and body are matter; they are interdependent and perishable. Descartes argues that anything that can be clearly and distinctly conceived, proves that these exist separately but Arnauld argues that one may be able to conceive a right angle clearly and distinctly ( C and D) without conceiving that the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the squares on the sides (Rodriguez-Pereyra, n.d.). This does not mean that the triangle can exist without the square on the hypotenuse being equal to the square on the other sides. To this Descartes replies that for a and b to be really distinct, a and b must be independently understood as complete and it must be possible to understand each one without the other. Descartes agrees that one cannot deny of a clear and distinct idea of a right angle that there is a certain ration between the square on the hypotenuse and the sides but as far as the mind is concerned, one can conceive of it existing clearly and distinctly without any other thing. Descartes therefore concludes that the mind and body are distinct entities and can exist without each other. Descartes recognizes that the mind has a habit of believing what it perceives and hence all prior beliefs are false. To argue on the mind and body causal interaction he mentioned that raising the hand is a correspondence of mind-to-body causality; receiving sensation from light rays entering the retina is a correspondence of body-to-mind causality. This argument is not convincing and he is unable to explain it in more detail. If the mind and body are radically different, how do they causally interact? All physical diseases are psychosomatic disorders, which originate from the mind. Even though the manifestation of the disease may be physical, the body may be affected, but the analysis and treatment is done of the mind and not the body. While temporary relief may be provided to the body but the mental state has to be restored; the mind has to be treated to bring permanent relief to the body. This refutes Descartes’ theory that body and mind are radically different and that they can exist independent of each other. Descartes also overlooks the fact that the mind sends impulses for the body to act. We often hear people remarking that they made a mistake because they were absent-minded or careless. What makes them absent-minded? Once the impulses are transmitted to the body the mind is free again to think something else or engage itself anywhere it wants. It immediately starts planning the next action to be taken. The body acts independently and makes mistakes but if the mind is attuned to the body then no mistakes occur. They have a very strong connection and without this connection, the body would keep making mistakes. Again, it has been observed that if the mind is involved in the act, the results are better. For example, just reading something or reading with attention makes a difference in terms of time, understanding, and results. Descartes argued that he was not the body, which has a determinable shape, a definable location. In the Second Meditation, through the thought-experiment of wax he explains the immortality of the soul. When the wax is brought close to the fire, it loses all its sensible properties like shape, color, hardness, and form, but the wax remains. What is it that is constant in the wax even when the form changes? The geometrical shape of the wax is now seen in a melted form, which can again be converted into another shape through a process. Through the perception of wax he concluded that when the wax is melted, it loses its shape, taste, color, form and size but what remains is still wax. This argument of Descartes’ holds good because even when the body perishes, the soul remains. This soul again acquires another body (another shape) to return to earth. Bibliography Bellotti T (n.d.), Descartes Method of Doubt, 03 Feb 2007 Burnham D (2006), The Internet Encyclopedia of Phillosophy, . 03 Feb 2007 Newman, Lex, "Descartes Epistemology", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2005 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = 03 Feb 2007 Piercey, R. (n.d.), Does Descartes Validate the Natural Light? 03 Feb 2007 Rodriguez-Pereyra, G., (n.d.), Descartes’ substance dualism and his independence conception of substance, 03 Feb 2007 Read More