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DESCARTES' THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE.
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Analyzes rationalist's ideas on experience, senses, the mind, truth, doubt.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Analyzes rationalist's ideas on experience, senses, the mind, truth, doubt.
Paper Introduction:
The problem of knowledge is a key one in philosophy, asking as it does whether there is anything we can really know and whether what we know can be said to be objectively true. Theories of knowledge come under the heading of epistemology. We perceive the world through our sense, but our senses can be deceived. The degree of deception involved also varies according to different views of the world. Some see this deception as absolute and deny that there can be any knowledge at all through the senses. Others admit knowledge acquired through the senses while recognizing that there are limitations. René Descartes was a rationalist, and his thinking was governed by his knowledge of and dedication to mathematics, which he believed could clear up the confusions and uncertainties of philosophy. In this regard, Descartes wished to attain certainty with reference to the
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From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest. These arestatements that are self-evident in that they prove themselves to reason,for to understand them is to know that they are absolutely true. Descartes here says that this can beaccomplished by empirical observation and experimentation. 2) Its certainty must be ultimate and not dependent upon thecertainty of any other belief. The philosopher can then reverse theprocess and start with the simple natures and deduce the effects, whichshould be consistent with the effects actually observed. Oncethis is done, the philosopher can boldly assert that he has discovered thereal nature of the physical object as far as human intelligence and theexperimental observations will allow. Descartes said that the chief secret ofmethod was to arrange all the facts into a deductive, logical system.Descartes wishes to build a system of philosophy based on intuition anddeduction, a system that will remain as permanent as and true as geometry.Descartes sets forth three requirement for the foundations of thisphilosophy: 1) Its certainty must be such that it is impossible to doubt, it isself-evident to reason, it is clear and distinct. The second method isdeduction, by which Descartes means orderly, logical reasoning of inferencefrom self-evident propositions. . Descartes denies the power of the senses toperceive knowledge because of an awareness that the senses are flawed andthat they are not to be trusted. Descartes by the Fifth Meditation considers the degree to whichsomething may be true when the mind is not directed toward it. Mathematics, he believed, could help philosophy achieveabsolute certainty so that philosophy could then reach final and certaintruth. Inthis way the philosopher's provisional doubt is overcome, though not in away that simply returns him to his initial position: It is essential to Descartes' project that the story be told this way. To accomplish this, the philosopher first had tocollect observations with which sense-experience supplies him. Self-evident propositions did not include ideas about the nature ofthings. For Descartes, reason is the only road to knowledge, and heuses mathematics as his model: By using the method of mathematics, philosophy could achieve absolute certainty and could prove itself, as mathematics does, to my own reason, to human reason, and be acknowledged as universally true (Lavine 93). Some see this deception asabsolute and deny that there can be any knowledge at all through thesenses. This does not mean that the Meditations havefailed, only that the conclusions to which they have come show thelimitations of mathematics in making philosophical judgments and that theMeditations reaffirm the limitations of sensory perception. Like Plato, he divides knowledge intowhat can be known and what cannot, and he emphasizes the importance ofreason and the falsity of sensual perception. Descartes sets forth a theory of rationalism in which reason is heldup as the most important element in human nature and as the only means tocertainty in knowledge. The climax is reached on the third day,not the sixth, for it is then that Descartes convinces himself that hisidea of God is something real and existent: In the First Meditation Descartes makes himself doubt that he has an idea of any really existing thing. Herecognizes that we cannot do without the information provided byexperience, and indeed such knowledge is necessary as a way of gatheringthe data needed for the deductive method (Copleston 81-83). Theories of knowledge come under theheading of epistemology. He uses asan example his ability to recognize that the angles of a triangle are equalto two right angles, something he cannot doubt when it is demonstrated.However, when he stops thinking about it, he might easily begin to doubtthat it is true. . The Meditations has an unusual literary form. The degree of deception involved also variesaccording to different views of the world. There is no connection withothers, for such a connection could only take place through the senses.The one connection possible in the rational mind is with God, and Descartesdemonstrates that God exists and that He does not deceive. Thefirst encounter brings about a provisional doubt that clears Descartes'mind of prejudices that would blind him to the truth, allowing him toapproach subsequent encounters in a way that leads him to new truths. We know that an object exists by experience,but to understand the true nature of the object it was necessary to applythe Cartesian method. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.----------------------- 1 There are only two mental operations by which true knowledge can beattained, says Descartes, and these are the methods of mathematics.Intuition is the understanding of self-evident principles. Descartes: The Project of Pure Enquiry. He rejects as false all his beliefs about material objects, even his faith in the reality of simple material natures. Descartes. The primary effects can be deduced withoutgreat difficulty, but there is an infinity of particular effects which canbe deducted from the same first principles, raising the issue of how we areto distinguish between the effects which actually take place and thosewhich might take place but do not. . Works CitedCopleston, Frederick. Having elevated human reason, Descartes is faced with the fact thatall reason takes place within his own mind. The problem of knowledge is a key one in philosophy, asking as itdoes whether there is anything we can really know and whether what we knowcan be said to be objectively true. Experience orexperiment can then tell whether these are consistent (Copleston 8 -81). 3) It must be about something which exists, and from it beliefs aboutthe existence of other things can then be deduced (Lavine 93-95). . Descartesoffers a complete discussion of knowledge, its source, its object, and therationale for his view of knowledge. The book is a diary ofa fictional intellectual retreat lasting six days, and each day isaddressed in its own Meditation. The philosopher would then tryto deduce by analysis the character of the intermixture of simple natureswhich would be necessary to produce all those effects which the philosopherhas seen to take place in connection with the object being examined. He comes to the conclusion that it remains true becauseit exists in the mind of God, and he (the philosopher) knows God (BernardWilliams 194). René Descartes was a rationalist,and his thinking was governed by his knowledge of and dedication tomathematics, which he believed could clear up the confusions anduncertainties of philosophy. Descartes also makes a distinction between the primary and moregeneral effects and the more particular effects which can be deduced fromprinciples or first causes. A History of Philosophy: Descartes to Liebniz. We perceive the world through our sense, but oursenses can be deceived. In the Meditations, Descartes presents his own journey fromprephilosphical common sense to metaphysical enlightenment, and each stepon this journey is taken in response to an encounter with skepticism. New York: Doubleday, 1963.Lavine, T.Z. New York: Bantam, 1984.Sorell, Tom. They arepropositions which no rational mind can doubt. However, by the end of the SixthMedication, Descartes concludes that our knowledge of external objects willalways remain imperfect. The promise of a response to skeptical problems will not be a point in favor of a system of philosophical ideas if those ideas help generate the problems in the first place, especially since the problems, once grasped, tend to be more compelling than any particular solutions (Michael Williams 117- 118). Thisinformation becomes the empirical data the philosopher then investigates,and the data are presupposed by the method. New York: Penguin books, 1978.Williams, Michael. This isnecessary to show that the knowledge acquired by reason is true. Descartes' situation is that the only reason he has for believing anything to be true is that it is either irresistible, or depends on something that is irresistible; so, when he is not actually thinking of anything irresistible, he can entertain the idea that nothing which he is disposed to believe is really true (Bernard Williams 187).The question that is then possible is whether what we experience is reallytrue. He questions whether the senses provideany knowledge. Others admit knowledge acquired through the senses whilerecognizing that there are limitations. In this regard, Descartes wished to attaincertainty with reference to the external, physical objects in the worldaround us. He began with the now well-known proposition, "I think, therefore Iam," and from this he built a philosophical structure striving for theaforementioned mathematical certainty. "Descartes and the Metaphysics of Doubt." In Essays on Descartes' "Meditations", Amélie Oksenberg Rorty (ed.). Yet, thoughDescartes agrees that experimentation can reveal much about scientificknowledge of the world, the ideal for him remains the deductive method. In the Second Meditation he notices that to be deceived by the demon there must be a medium of deception, namely thought, and if thought, then a real thinker, himself (Sorell 59-6 ).This medium of deception is such that there are certain ideas presented toit which are irresistible, but irresistibility does not mean truth: That there are things which one cannot help believing when one thinks of them might be a matter of a psychological compulsion, one which the malicious demon would have been happy to implant. Descartes said we could not deduce a priori the existence ofparticular physical things. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.Williams, Bernard.
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