Contrast of Descartes' Concept of Self Consciousness - Admission/Application Essay Example

The Good Life Introduction It has been disputed by different individuals and especially scholars that the increased tribulations of self consciousness are actually among the increased central themes within the modern psychology. Moreover, some scholars have even gone further to state that self consciousness is indeed the theme of the modern philosophy. In Descartes, taking the two most prominent examples, self consciousness plays a very foundational role both in the human existence and philosophy. Descartes states that self consciousness is indeed epistemically fundamental and helps in the provision of the human beings with indubitable and distinct self knowledge that in the long run establishes the foundation as well as standard for all the foundation knowledge (Spinoza. p. 10). This paper will compare and contrast Descartes concept of self consciousness as he developed it in the first three meditations with your personal experience of self consciousness. Compare/Contrast Descartes concept of self consciousness as he developed it in the first three meditations with your personal experience of self consciousness. Descartes was actually a French philosopher who came up with a theory stating that reality consists of matter and mind. In the very first meditation, there is a slow introduction of doubt in preparing the thinker as well as the reader for what is expected to come later, a complete doubt. In the first instance, Descartes indicates to the reader or thinker that it is actually possible to be in an error. Indeed, he only introduces the reader later on to the fact that they are actually in constant error. In order to ensure that his investigation proceeded, he determined to “to lay aside all prejudice, to find the fundamental truth on which all knowledge rests, to discover the cause of error, and to understand everything clearly and distinctly” (Spinoza, p.11). So as to ensure that these things are understood clearly as well as distinctly, he laid a principles rule of examining everything separately in a simple form with the aim of discovering how the other things are actually composed (Spinoza, p 12). This was the basis for the journey of Descartes into doubt. He decided to convince himself that there was absolutely nothing globally that could be accepted automatically as truth and this included his personal senses. Descartes is from the school of thought that doubt will eventually move the particular inquirer towards the removal of error and this certainly will be accorded to the knowledge. The complete doubt as indicated in Descartes’ second meditation puts the reader with the particular question of “do I exist?” The response of Descartes is that, “I think therefore I am.” Or simply, “I exist”. Even in the complete doubt and in the consideration that in everything he could be deceived, he is still of the opinion and this cannot possibly be taken any further away from him. Nonetheless, human as well as personal existence is absolutely not an established matter. He can therefore only be absolutely sure of his own existence when he goes through the actual thinking. Doubting therefore, “... is the foundation on which all knowledge rests” (Spinoza. p. 13). Descartes defines himself by giving an example of wax where he states that wax is not just wax because of its color, shape, or texture since all these things can actually change and the exact substance still remains wax. He is from the school of thought that wax is actually perceived by the individual’s intellect, simply the human mind that is better known than the body itself. He therefore makes a distinction between judgment and the ordinary perception. If indeed substance such as wax is actually known in this particular fashion, therefore the same must actually be of ourselves. The self is therefore not just determined by what we actually sense of our individual selves, this head, these hands, and these eyes, but rather things the individuals think. Therefore no individual can actually grasp things plainly or easily than his own mind. Descartes therefore concludes in the second meditation that he actually exists simply because he is a thinking thing. Indeed he says that if incase he is the particular thing that can think, be deceived, and have different thoughts; then he must actually exist (Spinoza. p. 13). In the third meditation that is concerning God and the fact that he exists. He made a proposal that there is an existence of three distinct different ideas such as adventitious, innate, and factitious. The innate ideas have and are always within us, invented or factitious ideas originate from our own imagination, and the adventitious ideas originate from the global ideas. He formulated an argument that the whole idea of God is very innate and is actually placed within the human beings by God, and rejected the whole idea of God being adventitious or invented. Descartes is of the school of thought that nothing can absolutely come from nothing and therefore the human being must have come from something and this he argues can be traced back to God (Spinoza. p. 15). My personal experience in the context of Descartes first meditation concerns the things that can actually be called into complete doubt. One day as I looked into a stick immersed in water I realized that the stick was completely bent, however it is not true that the stick was actually bent, it was only registered as bent in the mind. Therefore it is not advisable to make a conclusion with what is registered in the mind without seeking more information on the particular issue or object. In the context of the second meditation, according to the experience I have, it is true that human beings only exist because they are thinking things and have got senses. For instance, when an individual dies the senses also die and he ceases to exist. Finally, being an individual with a Christian background I absolutely agree with the school of thought of Descartes third meditation that there exist three distinct different ideas such as adventitious, innate, and factitious. Indeed, there are things that happen in the lives of people I interact with that justify the fact that there must be God or simply a force behind all the happenings. In a nutshell, if human beings exist, then there must be a supernatural being behind their existence. Conclusion This paper has compared and contrasted Descartes concept of self consciousness as he developed it in the first three meditations with your personal experience of self consciousness. The school of thought of Descartes regarding the human mind is absolutely true since there are several things that are only registered in the human mind and are actually not real such as the bent stick seen in water as shown in the paper. Therefore, for a human being to have a good life, he must accept the existence of God and the justification of what exist in the mind. Bibliography Spinoza, H. Britan. The Principles of Descartes Philosophy. The Open Court Publishing Company, Illinois, 1905. Read More