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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper asks this compelling question and answers with a resounding no. The dreaming argument is the focus of this paper. Other meditations are discussed and Descartes' proof of God's existence is explored as well. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: RT13_SA325Des.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
there are no such signs, he does not know if he is dreaming or not and finally, the last statement in the proof is a conclusion that says that he
does not know whether or not he is dreaming. Yet, it has been noted that Ren? Descartes never really doubted his existence when he questioned the true state (Honderich, 1995).
He was, rather, trying to say that human senses are in fact fallible (1995). He says that no amount of evidence on the unreliability of his sense organs would lead
him to doubt that he is sitting and holding a piece of paper (1995). In other words, he himself embraces the idea that he exists and that even if one
were to show him evidence--or absence of evidence--that he exists, he would not agree. Some seem to think that this is a contradiction. On one hand, Descartes says that
no clear mark distinguishes dreaming from waking, but at the end of the Meditations he says there is a very notable difference. Is Descartes contradicting himself? In some way,
he is most certainly contradicting himself. On one hand, he claims that nothing can be known for sure. There is always something that can render a thought or a concept
wrong. One can do a study one day to prove that cholesterol is bad, and then another day, a study may be published that suggests otherwise. Of course, scientific studies
can be contradicted. However, Descartes questioned more mundane things. Is this pencil an illusion or am I holding it? Basic things that no one would ever wonder about was the
subject of Descartes basic inquiries. Yet, to say that he has no doubts he exists, as he thinks and reasons, and he knows he is holding a paper, really does
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