Whether as a Leigh man or as a philosopher we humans are often concerned with the truths by which we claim not only our existence but the reality around us. Rene Descartes observes that sometimes the philosophies that govern our perceptions and judgments to be either true or wrong. It is not surprising therefore to find that mathematicians may find mistakes in their logical reasoning or that scientists hypothesize incorrect findings since even our minds and perceptions lie to us. However, a matter that is brought to light in this passage is that the realities that we believe in cannot exist without thought. Surprisingly, these thoughts could be deceiving and we can doubt the existence of our whole world but we never happen to doubt our existence as long as we are in a conscious state of mind. Descartes (2009) observes that the existence of the rest of our world ceases to exist the moment that one is unable to think or perceive them into existence. The self and the entire human experience is therefore a result of his own thought and self. The self is the part of the human that defines his person that is distinct from his body and other materials that may define his existence.
Another outstanding hypothesis by Descartes is that the recognition that we are imperfect makes us seek perfection which we can only find in the concept of God. Descartes (2009) explains that while our perceptions and reality is a construct of our own thought, our minds are also defective in the manner in which we interpret our experiences. It therefore implies that knowledge/truth is closer to perfection than lack of knowledge which forms the basis for the human question of God and the existence of deities. Since our thoughts are capable of doubt, one comes to the conclusion that there is a source for the knowledge of our imperfections. From this conclusion, Descartes (2009) explains that it only makes sense that our understanding of our imperfection comes from a source that is rather perfect on which we also depend. In addition, the concepts that encompass perfection such as excellent wisdom, infinity, omnipresence omnipotence are those that we cannot derive by ourselves. We therefore perceive these qualities to belong to our source of perfection on which we depend; God. From this hypothesis, dependence has always been associated with imperfection.
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Finally, Descartes argues for the existence of God based on our ability to prove that our perceptions are indeed true. According to the author, we cannot prove that anything we see and believe to be true or rather knowledge and the human experience are irrelevant if we do not presuppose the existence of God. One argument by Descartes (2009) is that all that we believe in, such as the existence of our bodies and the world around us is also uncertain. For instance, when we dream, we have other experiences and believe in a different world. Descartes challenges that even the individual with the sharpest mind is unable to make sense of these two experiences as they are both real to the individual. Therefore, we can only make a sense of the reality on the basis that we understand the source which makes the concept of God relevant to humans. We therefore believe that everything exists and is real because of our belief in the perfect source of things which is God.
References
Descartes, R. (2009). Discourse on the Method: Of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences . The Floating Press.
