Descartes is one of the greatest philosophers of 17th century whose books influenced not only philosophy, but also mathematics, and science. Discourse on Method has six parts, however part four is important, because Descartes came to the conclusion “Cogito ergo sum”. Descartes said that people often tend to act on opinions, although one could be uncertain about it. Therefore Descartes decide to do opposite and “to reject as if it were absolutely false…”(14). This kind of epistemology led him to doubt absolutely everything in order to get to the truth. He rejected everything that was previously taken as accurate and precise. He also rejected that truth comes from our senses, since it can deceive us, and decided that anything that came from his dreams was an illusion of his mind. In the process of doubting, Descartes concluded that: ”while I was trying to think in this way that everything is false it had to be the case that I, who was thinking was something. I am thinking, therefore I exist”(15) He wasn’t certain about if he had a body or which world he belonged, neither if he was dreaming or being awake. Ability to think gave him an idea that he is a thinking object not depending on material things. Here he separates the human body from the soul and I agree with him in the sense that the body is material thing that comes from the ashes and goes back to it, and soul has ho shape and form and is metaphysical, therefore it cannot stop existing.
Descartes than continues exploring the truth and conludes that if he doubts in truth, he can’t be certain in it. Therefore, there must be something more perfect then knows the truth other than him. Descartes is trying to answer the question how did he get the idea of heaven, earth, heat, light, if it wasn’t from something more perfect than he is? In other words he is trying to say that he has the awareness of it, but cannot explain it. Many things in this Universe we cannot explain, because the capacity of our mind is limited. He questions himself are those thoughts more superior than he is and there fore did they come from some perfection in himself or if these thoughts were false did they come form nothingness. He conclude that thoughts cannot come from nothing, so if it didn’t come from him they must have come from God. This is the first proof of God’s existence. Another proof of God’s existence Descartes is exploring through geometry. Idea of a perfect being includes existence in a same way that “the equality of its three angles to two right angles or the idea of sphere includes the equidistance from the centre of all the points on the surface.”(17) For many people it is difficult to understand God, because people perceive everything through their senses like imagining, however the God and the soul don’t come from our senses. As Descartes says: “trying to understand these ideas through one’s imagination strikes me as being like trying to hear sounds or smell odours through the use of one’s eyes.”(17) We cannot be sure that senses are giving us the right picture, as we cannot understand anything through imagination without help of understanding it. I think of God as a force that created this world the best way possible and living creatures perfect in their imperfection.
Marija Krasojevic