Rene Descartes is known to be the father of philosophy and for his famous cogito argument. It is more than 350 years ago ever since Descartes presented this cogito argument. He contemplated on proofing of existence of Gods by distinguishing the mind and the body. He wanted to preserve the church doctrine at the same time encourage scientific matters. He used a strategy of the method of doubt which advocates that one has to start doubting everything first including what is commonly believed to be God’s creation. He put the first term of knowledge by supporting that all his thoughts are mistaken and that there is absolutely nothing in the world because we use our senses which are commonly known to deceive us. He analyzed everything thoroughly and found the proposition of I am I exist can only be true if t is put forward by me or conceived in my mind (Descartes, 2013).
Descartes observation of I am I exist proposition emerged to be true even in strict condition as long the occurs to him personally. He pointed that he would have to exist even if he was deceived, even an omnipotent God cannot change ways such that I am deceived and I do not exist. Descartes argue that this proposition is an intuition of own reality expressed in the first person. Although Descartes had managed to undermine all the other beliefs, the belief of I myself exist did not much all such attempts. After considering everything thoroughly he concluded the proposition of “I am I exist “to be necessarily true when conceived in the mind or when conceived by me (Descartes, 2013).
He observed that there is no existence without thinking in that one cannot know they exist unless they think so. The fact is we exist while we think and we cannot be certain of that unless we think, thinking is the reason behind existing. He concluded that thinking is reliant upon existing and that I exist is reliant upon knowing that I am thinking.
The proposition of I am I exist contributed Descartes's developing his cogito of I think therefore I am. Which he considered being the first and the most certain of all, the cogito support to attach the ‘I think’ and ‘I am’ to play the foundation role as pointed by Descartes's but this will depend on how it is understood (Sarkar, 2003). He admitted that on anything that he has a slight doubt about he will consider it to be false and that he will continue to think about it until he discovers something certain. This cogito of I am I exist yield to the certainty that I exist as long as I am thinking; whatever the thing I could be thinking does not really matter. This led to the discussion of the ontological nature of thinking.
Descartes was able to identify the mind with self-awareness and distinguish it from the brain. He has then used this ideology in his entire larger project although he has received many arguments from other philosophers and scientists who undermines the one owns ideas. For instance, he gave a detailed defense of the universal innateness thesis. He argued that if we bear the scope of our mind in our senses then the ideas are presented in our mind just as the way we are thinking and nothing in our ideas is not innate to the mind. He also points out that nothing reaches in the mind through the sense organ from external receptors except corporeal motion. It then seems that the idea of emotions such as pain and figures are innate to us (Gorham, 2002).
Descartes advocates for doubting the legitimacy of all senses and proved their existence with certainty by distinguishing the mind and the body. However, his views had led to so many arguments and opposition in the field of philosophy. For instance, there are some critics that “I” is illegitimate and that it does not describe a turn as pointed by Russell. Others have argued that he lacked the language and the fact that he never involved any other person and presented his own ideas shakes his notion and conclusions. Descartes cannot also explain why sensory organs occur when they do, although he does not support the existence of God there are facts that God establishes a normological correlation between the ideas that arise and the brain.
References
Descartes, R. &. (2013). René Descartes: Meditations on first philosophy: With selections from the objections and replies. Cambridge University Press.
Gorham, G. (2002, September). Descartes on the Innateness of All Ideas. Volume 32, Number 3, . Retrieved from http://people.tamu.edu/~sdaniel/682%20Readings/gorham%20innate.pdf
Hauptli, B. W. (2014). Lecture Supplement on Descartes’ Meditations [1641]. Retrieved from http://faculty.fiu.edu/~hauptli/Descartes'MeditationsLectureSupplementI-IIIForPHH3401.htm
Sarkar, H. (2003). Descartes' cogito: saved from the great shipwreck. . Cambridge University Press.
