Descartes had been brought up in an educational method that claimed it would teach him everything he needed to know in order to pursue knowledge and get by in the world. Why did Descartes find his education unsatisfying? How does this reflect onto his philosophy?

Descartes mentions in his writing that he periodically rejects aspects and fields of study that he claimed to be muddled with opinion and conflicting doubt to create true knowledge.  Yet by disregarding these fields of study even with their issues doesn’t he also reject needed view points and sources to help prove his belief in the existence of god

Descartes lived in a time where religion/God was the center of life and the only form of structure you needed to adhere to. He stated in the first set of rules he abides by (that makes up his definition of “logic) –

” (1) The first was never to accept anything as true if I didn’t have evident knowledge of its truth: that is carefully to avoid jumping to conclusions and preserving old opinions, and to include in my judgments only what presented itself to my mind vividly and so clearly that I had no basis for calling it in question.”

Throughout Part 4 of his findings, he illustrates why God exists – but religion is not something you can prove (or disprove) and the evidence is not clearly there. I find it ironic that he rejects many things in life, but not the existence of God. Does he accepts the existence of God out of fear? Why doesn’t he reject the idea of God once he set out to find the full knowledge of life?

Descartes believes that there must be a being more perfect than he that has endowed him with his perfections. He notes that these perfections must come from a being other than himself, but why must they come from a being at all?

In his discourse, Descartes tries to prove the existence of god through deductive reasoning. One of these instances includes his comparison of god to a geometric proof, stating that even though there aren’t any perfect triangles or circles in existence, the idea of this perfect thing is still certain. However, I don’t believe this proves god exists. Instead, doesn’t Descartes’ reasoning tell us that just like a geometric proof god is more of an idea or thought of what perfection is so that we know what to strive for, and not actually a being that is perfect?

-Chadwick Green

For many years, I’ve looked into mirrors wondering is it really me I am seeing, or an image of myself I put together in my own mind. However, after reading “Discourse on Method”, based on Descartes, does the image my mind process really exist, or does it give me reassurance that because I see this image, I exist? It’s mind boggling. I’m almost certain that for this period of time, we will have many philosophical queries, most, if not all, with no definite answer.

Descartes brings up a even more though provoking concept besides thinking therefore existing, a couple paragraphs into part 4. He he asks the question “Where did I get my ability to think of something more perfect than I am?” and concluded that a being or entity that was more perfect than him thought him into existence. He also states that its impossible for him to come into existence from nothing. Does this help bolster the argument that God exists?

Before Descartes discovered his “truth”, “I am thinking, therefore I exist”, he devoted himself solely to the search for the truth. What is the truth which Descartes seeks? What answers is Descartes seeking for simply through the act of rejecting  everything/anything that he considered to be dubious?

Would mankind’s habit to craft tales from the unknown not have manifested, how would we have evolved as a species? Does our ability (and perhaps yearning) to recognize a measure of universal kinship through shared folktales qualify as a definition of what it means to be human?

Descrates refers to ignorance which arose from his pursuit of knowledge which created doubt. I generally see this idea as the “fake modest.”

question: How much can a person doubt something before the thought turns into pointless overthinking?

reference: “For I found myself tangled in so many doubts and errors that I came to think that my attempts to become educated had done me no good except to give me a steadily widening view of my ignorance!”