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Analytical/Critical Paper on Descartes Meditation 6 - Last Paragraph The name of Descartes we commonly associate with the concept of, so-called, Cartesian Dualism. In his Meditations on First Philosophy Descartes suggested the parallel existence of two, fundamentally opposite essences material body and immaterial mind, where immaterial mind is fully independent of its body and even capable of existing without it. According to him, physical and mental substances have its properties: extension corresponds to physical substance, and ability to think is a property of mental substances. All the matter and the space have an extension they are realities of material realm.
Matter sometimes gets to be rearranged in space that is movement. The power behind such movement is God. According to Descartes, mens body is nothing but a link between lower material realm and higher spiritual. The only thing that enables person to percept surrounding reality is its consciousness. I think, therefore I am this Descartes saying is very helpful to grasp the essence of his philosophy.
In the last paragraph of Meditation Six, Descartes states that, even though our senses can deceit us, nevertheless, we can say with great degree of certainty that being awaken and asleep, are two fundamentally different conditions. He bases his conclusion on the fact that there is a little chance for us to be deceived, for as long as there are multiple senses at work: all my senses more usually indicate to me what is true than what is false, in matters relating to the advantage of the body, and being able almost always to make use of more than a single sense in examining the same object (Descartes). Descartes suggests that it is possible to distinguish between dream and reality, since we can distinguish spiritual and physical substances. We are capable of doing this because God has given us an analytical ability. According to the author, if we percept two different states of substance, this is because God created them to be such.
The weakest point of Descartes argument, in this respect, is that he assumes that God is not deceiver, therefore we cannot be mistaken, while logically evaluating the true nature of subjects. This, of course, cannot stand any criticism as philosophical approach. Apart from being heavily influenced by outdated Christian religion, this arguments main fault lies in the fact that author tries to apply two absolutely opposite philosophical methods at the same time logical and idealistic one, without realizing that they exclude each other. Whatever is conceivable is not necessarily possible! Author engages in fallacy of simplification while doing this. He bases his argument on certain nihilism, denying objectivity to an objective reality.
Yet, he does that not out of his desire to attain a greater truth, but because he has a hidden agenda Descartes simply wants to scientifically prove the existence of God. He implies the notion of purposefulness to purely metaphysical matters: First, because I know that anything that I clearly and distinctly understand is capable of being created by God so as to correspond exactly with my understanding of it (Descartes). All his further arguments are based on this assumption, which is rather irrational. Descartes states that our senses are deceitful, yet the next thing, he suggests that they can be generally trusted, for as long as they confirm each other. But if were to assume the fact that we cant trust our senses, when it comes to perception of surrounding reality, the numerical factor ceases to have any importance altogether. Therefore, Descartes argument cannot be considered as valid one.
I can imagine what Descartes would use as counter-arguments to this thesis: Since it is proven that body and mind exist separately, we must come to conclusion that there is an external power that made such state of affairs possible, since it is clearly not natural. Once we have established this fact, well need to recognize the existence of certain divine entity, which can divide objects and concepts on true and false. Furthermore, such entity is clearly an emotional one, since we subconsciously associate good with truth and other way around, therefore God cant be deceitful and it is possible to distinguish true from false One can easily beat this argument by pointing out that Descartes makes a mistake, operating with certain moral values in the field of abstract theorizing. This can be only thought of as gesture of ultimate emotionalism, on his part. There are also elements of sophism in his argument, which gives us a good reason to doubt it using this method we could prove that the bullet, which came out of gun barrel, never reaches its destination and always stays suspended in the air, since its route to the target can be divided in half, and that half can also be divided in half the number of half's is indefinite, therefore bullet never falls down on the ground.
We cannot consider philosophical explanation being objective just because it makes sense as ideal theory As a matter of fact, we can only think of spiritual realities from consequential point of view. Thats why we shouldnt consider philosophical methods as only ones that are applicable, when it comes to arguing abstract concepts. The empirical science must be entitled with the right of final word. Saying that being awake is truly representative state; Descartes implies that spiritual realities are inferior to physical ones.
By doing this, he contradicts himself. This, of course, doesnt give him much of a credit as philosopher. Descartes says: And I ought to reject all the doubts of those bygone days, as hyperbolical and ridiculous, especially the general uncertainty respecting sleep, which I could not distinguish from the waking state: for I now find a very marked difference between the two states, in respect that our memory can never connect our dreams with each other and with the course of life, in the way it is in the habit of doing with events that occur when we are awake (Descartes). Yet, the marked difference between two states does not necessarily prove that one of such states is more real than the other.
Although the dreams reality is very sketchy, it nevertheless might be far more accurate then awaken reality, since it is directly connected with our subconscious drives. Many psychological theories are based on proven fact that peoples actions are motivated by hidden subconscious factors, rather then by objective circumstances. If we bring this statement to its logical conclusion, itll appear that our dreams are more real than the objective reality, from psychological point of view. Descartes would probably argue this statement by saying: Our civilizations accomplishments are result of peoples ability to operate with abstract categories, these categories can only originate in our minds while we think rationally and this can only be possible while were awake Yet, the history of scientific discoveries shows us that it often takes genius for the scientific break-throughs to take place. Only they guarantee the steady progress of science. In this respect, one cannot overlook the role of scientific inspiration, which has led many scientists to making discoveries, without requiring them to rationalize.
As a matter of fact, such insights usually occur during sleep Its clear, from this hypothetical argument, that Descartes philosophy doesnt stand any chance claiming validity in our times. His Cartesian Dualism can be easily beaten by both logical and factual evidence. Yet, we cant doubt the value of Descartes idealist approach, as this is this what enabled the whole Western philosophy to reach its current heights. The ability to think in abstract categories derives from the idealism rather then from rationalism. Many point out that Descartes philosophy goes along with Christian beliefs, providing Christianity with philosophical ground for imposing its outdated views upon great many people. It is no secret that Cartesian Dualism, as method, has fallen out of favor among contemporary philosophers, being commonly regarded as a bit naive approach to explaining the nature of surrounding reality and mans place in it.
But it had never lost its historical value and that is exactly the reason why its being taught in universities. Bibliography: Descartes, Rene Meditations on First Philosophy. Edited by John Cottingham. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
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