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Descartes

Descartes. 1 st Meditation. Absolute Certainty. Searching for Absolute Certainty. Is there anything I believe that is beyond all possible doubt? Descartes’ methodological skeptical arguments are a method to determine if there are such beliefs. 1 st Argument.

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Descartes

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  1. Descartes 1st Meditation

  2. Absolute Certainty • Searching for Absolute Certainty. • Is there anything I believe that is beyond all possible doubt? • Descartes’ methodological skeptical arguments are a method to determine if there are such beliefs.

  3. 1st Argument • Most of my beliefs are derived through my sense faculties. • However, my senses have fooled me before. • If they have fooled me sometimes, how can I know with certainty when they are not fooling me?

  4. Rebuttal • It seems absurd that my senses can fool me about certain things, such as that I have two hands, or that I see, touch, and smell a paper in front of me. • These beliefs seem indubitable.

  5. 2nd Argument • But how can I be sure that these beliefs are not part of a DREAM. • After all, I have had very vivid dreams before in which I have had experiences that seem true. • How can I be absolutely certain that I am not dreaming? Or how can I discern with absolute certainty when I am not dreaming?

  6. Rebuttal • Even if I cannot distinguish with absolute certainty dream from reality, I can know with absolute certainty and beyond all possible doubt mathematical claims, such as 2+2=4 or that a triangle has 3 angles. • I can also know that the content of my dreams must have come from somewhere, and therefore, while there might not be anything in reality that represents them exactly as I perceive them, there must be something of them in reality. If not where did they come from?

  7. 3rd Argument • What if there is an evil deceiver who is very powerful and deceives me about everything I believe and thought I knew. • What if he even deceives me that 2+2=4 so that I think this is absolutely certain when in fact it is not. • What if he creates images in my mind, so that theyare totally fictitious and represent nothing real in the external world.

  8. Evil Demon • Given the possibility of an evil demon who is extremely powerful, I cannot be certain about anything! • Matrix • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te6qG4yn-Ps • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnEYHQ9dscY&feature=related

  9. Summary • 1st Argument: From the fallibility of the senses. • 2nd Argument: I could be dreaming. • 3rd Argument: There can be an evil deceiver who deceives me about all things.

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