Rene' Descartes was a modern European thinker. Throughout his meditations he constantly implies that we are "things that think". Our bodies, these things, are just a jumbled mess of flesh, blood and bone. It is thinking that creates the person. Thinking is what separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom.
             Skepticism is described as doubting everything and is a frequently used method by Descartes. He doubts the fact that he is really living; maybe what he is doing at this moment is dreaming. "As if I did not remember other occasions when I have been tricked exactly similar thoughts while asleep! As I think about this more carefully, I see plainly that there are never any sure signs by means of which being awake can be distinguished from being asleep" (178). This quote is found in Descartes first meditation where he doubts many physical things. He is not saying that nothing exists. He is simply saying that there is no way to know; no proof they do exist.
             I agree very much with this declaration that Descartes made. He knows that there is no proof that the world doesn't exist and he states that. I certainty agree that it is not for sure that the world we are living in is real. But do I believe that this is just a "fake world" that doesn't really exist? Not really. I absolutely love the way Descartes doesn't try to prove that nothing is real, he just doubts it and questions it.
             Descartes describes himself as his mind, not the physical brain, but the spiritual mind. The fact that the mind exists and is thinking is indubitable. To doubt that one is thinking, is in fact thinking! This means that if the world does not exist, or if it is just a shade in front of our eyes (like "The Matrix"), whether we doubt it or we believe it, we are thinking and we exist. "I am, I exist-that is certain. But for how long? For as long as I am thinking. For...