Question

(Philosophy)

What is the one thing Descartes concludes he can be certain about? Why?

Answer 1

• There is one thing Descartes has come to conclude that he cannot doubt: “I think, therefore I am.” Descartes fully believes that “the human mind is not likewise composed of any accidents, but pure substance”.He claims to have discovered a belief that is certain and irrefutable. It is often known as Cogito.
• Descartes reflects on the fact that he has had many false beliefs, and he sets out to address that problem, with the hope of finding a way to ensure he only has true beliefs and even that scientific research yields only truths as well.
• His strategy is to doubt, or not believe, any claim that is false or could be false. He recognizes that his senses might be deceiving him now, since they have deceived him before.
• Descartes then considers the most extreme reason for doubt: there may exist an evil demon who has the power to control all of his thoughts, tricking him into believing anything.Descartes cannot prove that this demon does not exist. So he acknowledges that it’s possible that all his beliefs about the world external to his own mind are illusions caused by the demon, corresponding to nothing at all, and so all his beliefs about the external world are false.
• After considering the evil demon, Descartes soon discovers the Cogito. He realizes that thinking “I am, I exist,” withstands the evil-demon test.Even if all the beliefs and types of beliefs that Descartes reviews are false, or could be false, at the least, he must exist to be deceived.
• Even if one doubts one’s own existence, one must exist at that moment, since there must be something, or someone, doing the doubting. Doubting is a way of thinking, and one’s existence is required to doubt or think in the first place: it is impossible to doubt and yet not exist.
• So, the “I think” element in the Cogito implies the direct, immediate, certain knowledge of one’s own existence. Thought requires a thinker and this is known with certainty, since not even the demon could deceive someone who doesn’t exist. Descartes thereby found  some certain, indubitable, irrefutable knowledge.
• Descartes had found a belief that is certain and so, when believed, cannot be false. He thought that certainty was necessary for a belief to be known.The Cogito then serves as the foundation for a series of claims that build upon each other. According to Descartes, his reasoning establishes that, what he originally doubted, he actually knows, with certainty.