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Descartes Question Answer

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Descartes:  An Assessment of Readings Descartes 1.) What does Descartes’ mean when he claims, “I think, therefore I am”? Please describe the method he utilized to reach this conclusion. In your opinion, is this maxim a convincing foundation to base our knowledge of the world?

In the words of Rene Descartes, “I am, I exist, is necessarily true each time that I pronounce it, or that I mentally conceive it.” In “I think, therefore I am”, Descartes is simply building up on his ideal of what could be referred to as radical doubt. On this front, the idea is that we cannot deem something as being true on the basis of the mere perception of the sane. Descartes makes the observation that the only thing we can be certain of is that we have consciousness and a mind as without these, there would be no perceptions to be believed or doubts to be made. It is important to further point out that according to Descartes, the body and mind are not one and the same thing. Indeed, they are two separate entities – with the mind being more certain than even the body because it is through the mind that we can sense the body. Descartes strategy happens to be rather simple. He seeks not to believe, and thus doubt, all those...

This is more so the case given that he accepts for a fact that he has been deceived by his thoughts in the past. He is also aware of the fact that in the past, he has reasoned erroneously. Thus, because there is a possibility of his beliefs being false, it appears valid to subject his reasoning faculty (including his senses and beliefs) to doubt. He is also categorical that the beliefs he holds about the external world could be falsified by an evil demon inside of him. To a large extent, the only standard that could stand the test of time – and withstand the methodic doubt highlighted on this front - is ‘Cogito ergo sum!’
In my opinion, this particular maxim happens to be rather convincing – effectively meaning that we could anchor our knowledge of the world on it. This is more so the case given that the maxim could come in handy as I seek to discover other truths that may not necessarily be certain. From time to time, I lack certainty about some things. This is particularly the case given that I have in the past embraced some ‘truths’ that I came to realize later on they were not necessarily truths. Like Descartes, therefore, we could tap into Cogito in an attempt…

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