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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper discusses Descartes' argument that our existence may be a trick perpetuated by an "Evil Demon," and how in spite of that, he goes on to prove the existence of God. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVEvlDem.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
in his First Meditation, and his further argument for the existence of God in spite of the putative "trickery" of the evil demon. Discussion Descartes was seeking to prove
that science and religion could peacefully coexist, and that the former was not a threat to Christian belief. (Important arguments from Descartes Meditations-hereafter "Important arguments..."). It was his contention that
there was a solid basis for the new so-called "scientific method," and that it "lay in the mind and not the senses" (Important arguments ...). If this is true, he
argued, then science and religion are compatible, because science deals with things of the body, and religion deals with things of the mind or soul; the two work together (Important
arguments ...). However, if science rests on things of the mind and not the senses, then it is necessary to show that things we learn through our senses can be
mistaken, and this is one of his basic tasks: to show that everything we learn through our senses is open to doubt (Important arguments ...). He argues "[I]f our scientific
knowledge came to us through the senses, we could not even be sure that anything outside of us existed" (Important arguments ...). The further implication here is that since we
do know for certain that objects exist, we must know of them through the mind and not the senses (Important arguments ...). Descartes makes three similar arguments that "open all
our knowledge to doubt: The dream argument, the deceiving God argument, and the evil demon argument" (Important arguments ...). In each, the basic idea is that it is impossible for
us to perceive objects directly; rather we perceive the image of the objects that we receive through our senses, and it is possible that our senses are being tricked (Important
...