Philosophical Approach Of Descartes

[Illustration of Head]. (nd.) www.birgun.net  

          “If you really want to know the truth, doubt all things for once in your life.”  -Descartes

Descartes was one of the most important thinkers of the West in the last century. He was born on March 31, 1596, and passed away on February 11, 1650. He was a French mathematician and philosopher. 

Descartes was a philosopher who sought certainty. He was looking for a strong foundation for philosophy. However, he thinks that our differences come not from our capacity, but our use of questioning. Therefore, he used the skepticism method which means doubting about everything. He also says “How can you know that you are not dreaming, right now?”. At this point, it can be referred to in the Matrix movie.

Navale, V. (n.d.). [Scene from Matrix]. https://medium.com/@navalevarun

“Have you ever had a dream that you were sure was real? What if you never woke up from this dream then how would you distinguish between the real world and the dream?”

In the movie, Neo when Neo asks “If all these real?”, Morpheus answers as “What is real Neo? How do you define it?” In addition, in the Fight Club movie, the actor thinks that there is a friend for him, but then realizes that the person is just in his mind. Both of two show us we are not able to distinguish between real and dream.

[Image of Descartes]. (2021, January 15). https://www.aktiffelsefeadana.org/rene-descartes/

“Until you wake up, it might be impossible for you to notice that you are in a dream and you are not really experiencing those things.”

While Descartes sought precision, he established its analytical geometry as well. Then, he sought a certainty such as the certainty of mathematics in life.

But then he realized that certainty was perhaps not in the books, but out there. However, he recognized that certainty wasn’t there either. He tried to look inside, to look at his thoughts and opinions. Furthermore, he began to examine our minds.

[Illustration of Ideas]. (n.d.). https://www.iienstitu.com/blog

According to him, the thoughts and ideas in our minds could have 3 sources. They can come from birth, come from the experiences that we have gained as a result of our sensory perceptions, or they can come from our imagination, for instance, we can imagine a unicorn even though we know it doesn’t exist, and we can create our thoughts and ideas accordingly. Furthermore, he argues that unless we control the entry and exit, our minds are doomed to be filled with many unnecessary and unknown things. He thinks that we should see our minds as a building, that  if we do not accept ambiguous things into our minds, our minds will be stronger.

He also questiones  infinity and perfection. Where are these ideas coming from? At first, he thought it came from our sensory perceptions, but then he realized that nothing in the world is perfect and we could not observe it sensually. Eventually, he thought that the idea of perfection must come from the perfect being itself: God. Therefore, God exists. 

[Image of Descartes]. (2019). https://www.felsefen.com/rene-descartes-kimdir/

“To doubt is to think. Thinking is existence. So there is no doubt about my existence. I think, therefore  I am. My first knowledge is this solid information. I can now extract all other information from this information. God’s existence is more accurate than geometric theories that express a truth. Philosophy is a science, and to make philosophy an exact science, it is necessary to apply the geometric method to metaphysics.”

Source:

• Descartes, R.  Discourse On Method Of Rightly Conducting One’s Reason And Seeking Truth in the Sciences. https://books.google.com.tr/books?hl=tr&lr=&id=gLHCDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT2&dq=discourse+on+method+of+rightly+conducting+the+reason&ots=tGr89MzaAF&sig=JiQZg3RrmsSspPnsoZ1G16oUfmM&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=discourse%20on%20method%20of%20rightly%20conducting%20the%20reason&f=false