In “Discourse on Method” Descartes proves he exists by coming to the conclusion of “cogito ergo sum” which means “I think, therefore i am.” He uses a method of doubt by denying anything that is not 100% certain or that can be doubted at all. One of the first things he calls into question is the ability to discover truths through the senses. He arrives to the conclusion that he cannot trust the senses since they sometimes deceive him. I could be jumping off of a plane ski-diving and really believe that that’s what I doing at the moment because I can see it and i can feel it, while in reality I’m laying in my bed with just my underwear on snoring like a motorcycle engine. There is a lesson to be learned out of this, and important to realize that even if we think we think something is true our senses could be deceiving us. This is not only important to know to distinguish between dreams and awakeness but also important in our day to day lives of dealing and interacting with people. Many times our senses might tell us something about a person that will lead us to judge them in a certain way and follow itself by a list of assumptions about that person, meanwhile whatever we are thinking and assuming about that person can be far from the truth. When it comes to judging people we should use a similar method that Descartes uses and give the benefit of the doubt. With this method we will sooner or later realize that some of the things we originally thought about that person were false.
3 thoughts on “Response: “Discourse on Method” by Rene Descartes”
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“I could be jumping off of a plane ski-diving and really believe that that’s what I doing at the moment because I can see it and i can feel it, while in reality I’m laying in my bed with just my underwear on snoring like a motorcycle engine.” I love this sentence loll.
This is a really nice explanation of some of Descartes’ main points. I like the way that you not only summarized his thinking process, but you added an example to really drive the point home. It is hard sometimes for humans to ignore our first impressions when we meet someone and give them the benefit of the doubt. But that first impression is often developed by our senses which Descartes proves to be unreliable. It is a very interesting idea.
I agree with your post. Sometimes are eyes play tricks on us as well. We could be looking at something and perceive that it is something specific when in reality it’s something else. That could lead us to misjudgments and it happens all the time.