Philosophy Essay Example: Descartes View on the Certainty of His Existence

Rene Descartes, a French philosopher, embarked on an attempt to discard all belief in things that are uncertain and proceeds to establish what is described as sure. In so doing he wrote six meditations, and they are as follows: The first meditation deals with what can be called doubt, the second meditation explains the nature of the human mind. The third meditation dealt with the existence of God, the fourth meditation dealt with truth and falsity. The fifth meditation is about the essence of material things and finally, the sixth meditation is on the existence of material things (Descartes). The paper will delve into the second meditation which deals with the nature of the human mind. It is as a result of this reflection that Descartes argues that he could be sure of his existence.

Descartes argues that he resolves to pursue his search for certainty and to discard anything that is open to any doubt. He believes that the notions according to the first meditation on the faultiness of his memory and the non-existence of his body and senses are mistaken. He doubts on whether he truly exists, the element of doubt brings out the argument that for him to question it, therefore, means that he has to exist. He proceeds to explain that there is an evil demon that is misleading him. From this, he derives that for the evil demon to deceive him he must first exist. He relies on the cogito argument that states I am therefore I exist. Such that even if his senses lie to him or even if he is dreaming or an evil genie is misleading him, he cannot doubt his consciousness. He then tries to answer what the "I" that exists is. The answer was that he could not doubt that he thinks and that he has a body. The fact that he cannot suspect that he has a body is proof enough that he exists. He only exists if he is thinking. Therefore his self is identical to his consciousness (Palmer). Further, it is impossible to doubt that one has a mind hence the mind and self are the same, this brings out the certainty of selfhood.

Descartes' argument on proving his existence does not provide a strong foundation. Hence it is rather unconvincing. The following reasons explain why his argument is not convincing: firstly Descartes brings out the fact that his senses deceive him and that after examining himself he cannot find any properties belonging to the nature of the body. As a result, he proceeds to describe himself as a part of a body or not as a whole man. The part of the body is the soul, corrected to mean further that he was like a wind that diffuses through the parts of a body. If Descartes believes that he is like wind, he should therefore have the same shape of his body. For example, air takes up a similar shape of the container it is contained in. His view on the aspect of lacking attributes of a body is rather unconvincing as he is expected to move numerous body parts and this is unachievable if he is not in motion himself. The aspect of a similarity to the wind is somewhat farfetched.

Secondly, Descartes in his argument states that of all the attributes of the soul, both nutrition and movement are not to be found. However, this does not prove that one is not a body as a body can exist without having nutrition. Descartes proceeds to state that he cannot perceive senses, but this point does not make any sense as when an individual sees colors it is the body that does that. For example, if an individual spots a red ball, it cannot be stated that the body cannot perceive senses as it is the body that is performing the function of identifying the color of the ball.

Thirdly, Descartes describes himself as only a thing that thinks. Descartes argues that the human consciousness is inseparable from the body. The argument is expected to include the soul to be complete; the mind has divested itself in both the body and also the soul. Another element is the fact that Descartes states that thought is the only thing that is inseparable from one's body. The inseparability of thought and the body brings out the question of whether one will think continuously for as long as they live/exist (Descartes). The mind cannot think consistently, but instead, it is perpetually thinking. For example, when one sleeps or is in the womb, the individual or the baby is not thinking, hence thought can at specific scenarios be separated from the body.

Despite the objections stated above, some arguments support Descartes' argument on the existence of oneself. The main argument is the Cogito argument; this argument develops a trail of thought that the mind is a crucial part of the body that can know anything else. The fact that the mind recognizes itself causes it to connect with reality. Such that one's consciousness is an implication of one's existence. The fact that a thing can doubt, understand, deny, affirm or will depict that the individual exists. The Cogito argument contains a lot of weight in proving Descartes argument nevertheless, the issue of the inseparability of human consciousness and the human body is wrong. As discussed above an individual cannot think throughout his/her lifetime.

In conclusion, Descartes brings out a compelling argument concerning the proof of one's existence. He believes that because an individual thinks that he is therefore he exists. However, there are instances when Descartes argument on self-existence is unconvincing. Such as the inseparability of the human consciousness and the human body. Descartes' argument requires reexamination to cater for the numerous objections.

Works Cited

Descartes, Rene. Meditations on first philosophy. University of Notre Dame Press, 1990.

Palmer, Donald. Looking at philosophy: The unbearable heaviness of philosophy made lighter. 2009.