Descartes and Our Existence

Rene Descartes was driven in the adventure of philosophy meditation and other philosophy related works such as the popularly known literary scriptures in the bible. The holy bible equipped his mind with several facts that would soon lead him to propose the first postulates pertaining to meditation of the first philosophy. He was encouraged to possess a thought that all that is visible or audible are perceptible in any other manner that is brought into existence through us (Descartes, 1996).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Descartes and Our Existence specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The third chapter of the Wisdom of Solomon and the first chapter of the book of Romans were Descartes specific sources of inspiration. Romans one says, â€Å"that which may be known of God manifests is manifest in them.† It is also claimed that â€Å"where it is said how they are not to be excused for if their understanding was so great that they could discern the world and the creatures, why did they not find the Lord thereof?† These two scriptures led Rene Descartes into proposing the very first arguments of meditation in philosophy (Descartes, 1996). In his first meditation method, named meditation one, Rene Descartes tries to disapprove his earlier thoughts pertaining the human being and nature at large. He claims that, there is no clear standard and unanimously agreed distinction between right and wrong, good and bad, true and false and so on. The state of something being either originates from within us. Rene further argues that we are able to argue in favor or against a logical state depending on whether or not we can see concrete reason in favor or otherwise. This means that, logic is not as fixed as we thought and whatever we see, hear or feel is brought into existence by our own thought. We can decide to make ourselves naked, dressed, poor or rich by simply bringing them into existence. Me ditation two tries to outline the effects of meditation one. It claims that after having learnt of our earliest perceptions as false and that we have the power to manipulate logic by making the truth or false out of anything the way we want. There is a tendency of us trying to play wise that we can not be cheated and in the process disqualifying everything and negating the existence of everything else as well (Descartes, 1996). Does anything exist at all then? We then find ourselves in the middle of not knowing anything about the universe and curiously asking ourselves if at all there is a supernatural being that can help us understand whatever exists. This is another problem, since we have to create the supernatural being that we are so much in need of creating.Advertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More What then are we? This is one question that meditation two tries to answer. It is certainl y a big challenge to meditation one, since if anything in existence is purely our imagination then this could mean that we bring each other into existence and hence we do not exist in reality. The mind is therefore described as the most real part of us and could be the part of us that is in actual existence. Thus, thought becomes the act of bringing things and activities into physical existence as defined by Rene Descartes’s arguments in the meditation of first philosophy (Descartes, 1996). Work Cited Descartes, Rene. Meditations on First Philosophy: With Selections from the Objections  and Replies. Ed. Cottingham, John. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. This essay on Descartes and Our Existence was written and submitted by user Kamron Harrell to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.