Existence

Running head: EXISTENCE

Existence

Initially in Descartes’ Discourse on the Method Part IV, Descartes seems to be focused on proving he exists. He does this by: concluding nothing his senses provided was true, rejecting unsound arguments as they lead to false beliefs, and concluding his thoughts are illusions of his dreams which may or may not have any validity to them (Bennett, 2010-2015).

While continuing to prove that everything known as true was false, Descartes realizes he was thinking therefore he exists, his existence was not based on material objects or places, but on the fact that he was capable to think. This is when I thought this reading selection could go deeper than that of self existence. The same criteria used, could be applied to prove the existence of God.

The comparison of human existence to that of the existence of God is the surprise ending. Initially, the existence of God does not seem to be a topic of discussion, but the focus seemed to be on proving human existence. How Descartes incorporates the existence of himself to that of the existence of God is convincing. Descartes explains that society has problems believing in God, because our senses hinder us from believing. I agree people do seem reluctant to believe in something the senses cannot confirm, but because something cannot be proven by our senses does not mean that that particular something does not exist. If our senses were what determined existence or non-existence, many present items or things would be questionable.

Reference Page

Bennett, Johnathan. (2010-2015). Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting one’s

Reason and Seeking Truth in the Sciences Retrieved from:

http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/descdisc.pdf