Descartes

In my opinion, there are some flaws contained in Descartes’ argument. Among these flaws are Descartes’ apparent determination to prove his theory on his individual existence in the world and the existence of G-d to backup and prove himself and his theories.

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I happen to feel that many of life’s greatest pleasures are in those things that we can perceive only through our senses. He is debating complex ideas in his head, changing his mind and objectively making decisions, so his existence in a world has to be a certainty.

One major flaw found in Descartes’ argument is that while critically examining, and then rejecting, mostly everything in the world around him, he maintained that he could prove the existence of G-d, beyond a shadow of a doubt. He has nothing, nothing to believe in and everything around him he regards as false. The fact that he is having these thoughts, whether right or wrong proves mental capacity.

Possibly not every idea needs to be examined, and subsequently accepted or rejected. On the surface, he appears to be very confident that his argument bears validity, but my personal impression is that he was actually very insecure after all. He decided to re-start his belief process and call everything he has ever believed in, into doubt. Conceivably our senses are not the most secure basis for knowledge, but they provide us with many wonderful sensations that I personally would not be prepared to give up, simply for the knowledge that I really exist. True as it may be, that our senses can sometimes deceive us, those deceptions can be beautiful and powerful things. The fact that he was so ready and willing to accept G-d’s existence, while being so critical of everything else around him illustrates how careful he was to prove a G-d of power and benevolence. I suggest that Descartes should have substituted “I feel, therefore I am” for his famous “I think, therefore I am”. Descartes states that he plans to “obey the laws and the customs of my country, constantly holding on to the religion in which, by G-d’s grace, I had been instructed from my childhood…” .

At times, Descartes is unnecessarily critical of many ideas.

Common topics in this essay:
Ergo Sum, Discourse Descartes, g-ds existence, existence g-d, own existence, ergo sum, ergo sum exist, cogito ergo sum, sum exist, proves theories, mental capacity, idea g-d, descartes argument, existence world,

Approximate Word count = 1521
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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