Rene Descartes and the Concept of Doubt
Rene Descartes found out that he could not identify concrete answers to most of his critical arguments. For instance, there is no ideal answer concerning whether one should state an issue by using the term whether or by asking it as a question. For instance, it is correct to state, “whether ritual is critical is critical to moral development” or ask as a question such as, “is ritual critical to moral development?” depending on the angel with which you view this particular issue, both aspects may be either right or wrong but there is no ideal stand concerning which of them is the correct one (Vrahimis, 11).
Different Perspectives on Ritual and Moral Development
Different people will come up with different ideas concerning which of the two perspectives is the correct one. At this point, therefore, Descartes is struck by the number of things he had to believe despite how doubtful the things were. According to him, it is not until one has confirmed a theory scientifically that he can be in a position to start believing it.
Starting from the Foundation: Doubting Everything
Descartes feels that before believing in anything, he has to demolish everything and then begin from the foundation. To achieve this, Descartes began by indicating that anything he had believed was false (Descartes, 109). He identified reasons for doubting all his opinions provided there wasn’t a scientific evidence to confirm it. Everything he had ever accepted to be true came through his senses ones more and hence he came to identify that there was some doubt in it. Descartes feels completely deceived by anyone who had come up with an opinion which he later finds doubtful. He feels that the senses deceive people in certain instances but however, there are some things that come from the sense that one cannot doubt. For instance, one cannot doubt the idea that these hands are really mine because everybody can see that is a fact. Descartes feels that if he found himself doubting such a fact, then he could classify himself as a madman.
Doubting the Ability of Senses
He realizes that this particular study is more difficult than he had imagined since there are certain instances that his senses could mislead him. He finds it normal to have some vivid dreams in some instances. He finds it difficult to determine whether he is asleep or awake and hence he doubts the ability of his senses. He is impressed by his way of reasoning. He figures out the manner in which one may dream of things that are not happening in real life. He wonders whether this happens while one is sleeping or awake (Descartes, 109). He even questions his method of doubt. He is not convinced with the way one imagines he is asleep while in a real sense they are awake. This is because it can be proven for instance when one has their eyes wide open and they can look at a piece of paper, it is clear one is not asleep. Finally, Descartes concludes by indicating that he has to doubt his senses after recalling some of the dreams that he had which had made him feel like he was awake while in a real sense he was asleep. These are possible errors in life and for this reason, therefore, he has to doubt any belief that had been formed through his senses.
Doubt as a Tool for Truth
I agree with Descartes that some of the theories that we have been made to believe actually requires to be doubted until a concrete prove is associated with it. In school, for example, students are made to believe some things that are not based on any fact. For instance, students are made to believe that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The big question then arises, why not state that the sun rises from the west and sets in the east. Under what bases is the confirmation that the sun rises from the east and not the west? In this case, using a question to address the issue is more realistic than using the word whether.
Doubting Established Facts
Other facts that people are made to believe includes the idea that the sun rotates around the earth. However, it is not clear how this was confirmed to be true. Hence, this gives every reason to doubt this particular fact (Vrahimis, 10). The question, therefore, will be, does the sun rotate around the earth? However, it is not everybody who will go by this perspective. Some will use whether as their form of presenting their issues. For instance, whether the sun rises from the east to the west. Some of them may feel that questions are too general and do indicate the feeling of doubt. To prove them wrong, it I would indicate that this is the only way of confirming the presence of doubt since doubt raises questions in one’s mind. Not every fact has been proven scientifically and hence this is the basis for Descartes position concerning doubt which was later translated by Donald Cress. Donald indicated that there is nothing among the things he had believed to be true that cannot be doubted.
Work cited
Descartes, Rene. "DESCARTES’S DISCOURSE ON METHOD." Ratio et Fides: A Preliminary Intro-duction to Philosophy for Theology (2018): 109.
Vrahimis, Andreas, et al. "Descartes’s Life and Works." An Analysis of René Descartes’s Meditations on First Philosophy. Vol. 84. No. 1. Indianapolis: Blackwell, 2017. 9-13.
