If you can't trust your senses what can you trust? Yes, reason is important, but without your senses what is there to even think about? What is the use of reason without senses? An idea must come from another idea. If you see a horse and then you see another house you connect those two horse as being the same creature. It was through your senses that you can make this conclusion. You know that the sun will rise tomorrow because you have seen the sun rise the day before and everyday since you were born, to come to the conclusion that it probably will rise again tomorrow.
If you see and smell fire you shouldn't sit there and analyze whether it's real or not, at that time you have to trust your senses and run. Yes, your senses can't tell you everything, like that wax from a candle is still wax, but you must first observe the wax melting off the candle before you can come to the conclusion that its property did not change. We take in everything in the world through our sense then use our reason second to better understand it. Therefore, senses come first and reason is second.
Also, Descartes argues, that an imperfect being can't think up the notion of a perfect being so therefore God must exist. But everyone has a different perception of a what a perfect being is to them. So everyone's God has to exist to make his theory true. Also, there is no way to prove what perfect is. As an "imperfect being" how can you be sure that what you're thinking to be perfect is actually perfect?
Great post. I definitely agree that there are holes in Descartes' arguments. We need something from which to first build our thoughts off of, and I wonder if we would be able to do that with no sense of the world surrounding us. What would a person with no sense perception be able to think about? I suppose this is part of what Descartes meant by "Cogito Ergo Sum".
ReplyDeleteGood point about different interpretations of God. How does Descartes know that his own viewpoint is the correct one?
I really like this post Rafa, and I completely agree with pretty much all of your points.
ReplyDeleteBut, just to be a Devil's advocate, in defense of Descartes, isn't the only thing we can truly know that we are a thinking being, alive at this one moment? (I personally think that Descartes was kind of an early existentialist) Yes, our senses tell us all these things, but can we really know anything other than the fact that we are currently thinking at this very moment in time? It all goes back to Descartes theory of doubt.
Just something to think about. :)
I totally understand your "fire" example. Senses could definitely come before reason, since they're more immediate -- they're necessary. You can't automatically reason that something is there...in most cases, you must have had to experience it first. But it's good that you mentioned that senses can't tell you everything, because it's true -- in some cases, just because you don't sense something yourself doesn't mean that it's not there.
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