Everyday we are bombarded with various forms of stimuli. We see many people, we hear cars drive by, we feel the cool breeze, etc, but how can we prove that we are really experiencing these stimuli? That is the question that Rene Descartes asked some three hundred fifty years ago, is there anything real in this world? Descartes concluded that at least his mind existed because he was thinking, which led to him saying "Cogito ergo sum" which means I think therefore I am. In this essay I will briefly discuss Descartes' theory, and discuss alternative opinions to his theory.
             Around 1641 Descartes convinced himself that nothing really existed "no sky, no earth, no minds, no bodies," (Hospers 71) so would this make him nonexistent? No it wouldn't because he doubts and how can there be doubt if there isn't anybody to do the doubting. Now that he proved that the mind existed then he could doubt everything else, such as what we saw, heard, tasted, felt, and smelled. Descartes supposed that there was a demon that was spending all of its time deceiving him and everyone else. The demon would plant illusions in his and everybody's head to make us believe that we are seeing, touching, tasting, hearing, and smelling, it may even be deceiving us into thinking that we have a body. But "he can't deceive me into believing that I exist when I don't for there must be a "me" to be deceived. But perhaps he deceives me about everything else." (Hospers 72)
             One of the most frustrating things about Descartes' theory is that there is no true way to find out if one is being deceived. In the movie The Matrix everyone was walking around in a world that was completely manufactured by super intelligent robots. The only thing that was real was everyone's mind That movie agrees with Descartes and says at least the mind exist.
             Descartes seemed to have a perverse faith
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