René Descartes, philosophy, mathematics, material things, skepticism, knowledge, metaphysics, God, cogito ergo sum, physics, existence of God, Meditations on First Philosophy
Descartes carries out an experiment in which he supposes that there is no existence of God, and instead, he proposes the existence of an evil spirit which deceives humanity regarding everything that regards to life. He describes his philosophy as a tree, the roots as a form of metaphysics, and the branches as a science. Metaphysics is concerned with the principle of knowledge which questions and reaffirms or refutes the existence of God while focusing on the soul's immortal nature and the immaterial things of the world. Physics, on the other hand, deals with material objects, their general composition, and their relationship with the world. The sciences in general deal with the nature of the overall world, the animals, plants, and the existence of man. Coincidentally, it is these sciences which are supposed to benefit man in terms of knowledge but in their empirical nature, they fail to prove the existence of God, and this is what Descartes capitalizes on.
[...] (2008). A Beginner's Guide to Descartes' Meditations. [...]
[...] He argues that anything which can be doubted does not exist, and he contends that the existence of God is supernatural and cannot be explained in physics because his occupancy of space is not determined. After the third meditation, however, the philosopher refutes the idea of truth and falsity. Instead, he focuses on the convictions of the mind and agrees that God exists, based on his unique creations. Descartes concludes that it is not possible to fully understand God's mind. He proceeds in the subsequent meditations to explain the existing duality between the mind and the body. [...]
[...] In his second proposal, Descartes argues that proving the falsity of an idea or a principle is impossible. An individual requires more than his or her lifetime to proof doubt in an idea because there are countless doubtful ideas in the world at the moment. As he argues: "In this first item of knowledge, there is simply a clear and distinct perception of what I am asserting; this would not be enough to make me certain of the truth of the matter if it could ever turn out that something which perceived with such clarity and distinctness was false. [...]
[...] He describes his philosophy as a tree, the roots as a form of metaphysics, and the branches as a science. Metaphysics is concerned with the principle of knowledge which questions and reaffirms or refutes the existence of God while focusing on the soul's immortal nature and the immaterial things of the world. Physics, on the other hand, deals with material objects, their general composition, and their relationship with the world. The sciences in general deal with the nature of the overall world, the animals, plants, and the existence of man. [...]
[...] Descartes exposes each potential opinion to doubt as a means of finding out something which cannot be doubted. In the first meditation, Descartes attempts to doubt everything which can be subjected to doubt through systematic doubting of the foundations of each idea's knowledge. He identifies a priori as the reasoning or knowledge which does not depend on sensory experience and a posteriori as the knowledge or reasoning which draws from sensory experiences (Southwell, 2008). Descartes further describes the concept of sense deception whereby he asserts that human senses are deceptive due to optical illusions which distort external realities. [...]
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