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This 4 page paper discusses the possible levels of error in Descartes' First Meditation as well as his discourse on dreaming. Bibliography lists 1 source.
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4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVDesCar.rtf
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true" and that anything he afterwards based on these false opinions was of necessity doubtful (Descartes, 2005). He wants now to understand the nature of truth and falsehood; further,
he has waited until he is older to begin this undertaking so that there is no more advanced age at which he will be better suited to do so (Descartes,
2005). He is now retired, and has the leisure to explore these issues, and so, he says, "I will at length apply myself earnestly and freely to the general
overthrow of all my former opinions" (Descartes, 2005). Its not necessary, he says, to go through each belief one at a time to show where its incorrect, which would be
an "endless labor"; "but, as the removal from below of the foundation necessarily involves the downfall of the whole edifice, I will at once approach the criticism of the principles
on which all my former beliefs rested" (Descartes, 2005). In other words, Descartes is going to go to the root cause of the problems instead of dismantling it one
piece at a time. He begins by considering that everything he believes to be true has come to him through the senses. However, hes noticed that the senses can
be deceiving. This is his first error, but we can guard against it be not placing "absolute confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived" (Descartes,
2005). The second point of error is that we experience when we are convinced of information that "is manifestly impossible to doubt" (Descartes, 2005). Here he uses the example
of himself sitting by the fire, clothed in a winter dressing gown-in other words, he believes in his own reality because to do otherwise is to succumb to insanity (Descartes,
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