Matthewmongan |
11-10-2004 03:05 PM |
i doubt any of you will take the time to read this,
but im wippin out the descartes meditations on the first philosophy:
Renč Descartes postulates many good arguments on the existence of mind body and soul. He explores the existence of god by diving into his own mind and cutting off his senses. This technique is called wall meditation and has been used by the Shaolin Temple for the same purpose. Descartes raises several interesting points; however, when the laws of modern science are applied his points become less viable. In no way do I doubt the existence of a higher power or the existence of a soul. Merely, I am illuminating the incompatibilities of Descartes’ theories with modern ideas of science.
Descartes explores the idea of his existence. He comes to the conclusion that the only part of him that he is sure of existing is the part that is a “thinking thing”(49). He continues to ponder weather or not he brought himself into existence, self-substantiation if you will, and if it is him that continues his own existence, self-preservation. He says, “If such a power were in me, then I would certainly be aware of it. But I observe that there is no power.”(49-50). He attributes his existence to God and as proof he offers his innate idea of God. He cant be produced or preserved by his parents because “I am a thinking thing and have within me a certain idea of God… what caused be is also a thinking thing and too has an idea … of God”(49-50). He explores the origin of god. He concludes, he “did not draw it from the senses” and that “it never came to (him) unexpectedly”(50-51). Thus the idea must come from what he refers to as the “light of nature”(52).
The first theory that I will explore is Descartes’ idea that he is a “thinking thing”(49). This is accurate as the only thing a person can truly be sure of is it’s self. The external world is full of illusions witch can make it difficult to see the truth of reality. It is better to think of the human mind as a computer. All the computer knows is input data and the input data makes up the entirety of the computers existence. Thus for a machine what we call virtual reality is the same as reality. This concept conveys to the human mind, as we are build out of external senses. Ergo the only thing we are sure of existing is our mind.
Descartes doubts the ability of self-substantiation on the grounds that he cannot observe this ability within himself. If this idea was true and only the abilities we observe exists then we wouldn’t exists. We cannot directly observe cell division in our self but it certainly happens. Nor do we full comprehend the function of the endocrine system but all doctors would agree that with out it life is impossible. This is similar to cancer in the terms that we do not know what causes us to exist/continue to exist but we observe the result that we do. Similarly we do not fully know why cancer cells form but we can observe that the do. This is not to be confused with habits that cause cancer such as smoking or sunbathing. We know that smoking causes cancer but we don’t know why. Eliminating that he doesn’t continue his existence Descartes explores other possibilities.
Descartes goes on to discredit his parents’ part in his existence as a “thinking thing”. Descartes states “nor is it they who in any way brought me into being, insofar as I am a thinking thing”(50-51). Human reproduction aside, it is know that the relationship a baby/child has with its primary caregiver, in this case his parents, plays a direct baring on the child’s mental development. For example, when I was a child, to young to remember, my parents had a sailboat. I was in fact conceived on this boat and learned to walk on the same boat. Now without any memory of these events I find myself drawn to the same model boat (Catalina 450) and the ocean in general. If my mother hadn’t recently educated me on my history of sailing I would have never know why I love sailing so much. Another example is my innate ability in martial arts. As a child I would watch a tv program every Saturday at noon called ‘Black Belt Theater’ where they would show both Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee movies. When I aged and I began to study martial arts I found myself drawn to Wang Chun, the same style that father and son displayed on their movies. When I first started to study under Sifu Brian Edwards he was very confused, as I would display forms of the style witch he hadn’t taught me yet during our daily sparing. He inquired my parents if either of them or an older sibling studied before. The only explanation was that I picked it up from the movies I would watch religiously every Saturday. Thus it is possible that the experiences that Descartes received from his parents resulted in him becoming a “thinking thing”. Descartes, however, attributes this to God.
There are two explanations I give for Descartes innate idea of god. One, he absorbed it through his surroundings at an early age, much like I did with Kung Fu and sailing; two, that it is human nature to envision a perfect being. Humans are with limitations the most apparent being physical. We can only run so fast, jump so high, and lift so much and we are aware of these limitations. Our minds automatically generate an idea of a person without the physical imitations that we have, E.G. Superman. Every culture has a concept of a man who defies our abilities and performs superhuman tasks. Superman for example can run faster than a speeding bullet, lift a bus with one hand, and fly so fast he can turn back time (as seen in Superman 2). Superman is everything we are not and everything we wish to be. We have these ideas of all the perfections and an idea of it being in one being, but this is not to say that those ideas came from that being. We all dream of flying and superman is a result of that dream. These ideas can seem to be inherent to the human mind and likely are, but it does not prove the existence of a being just that we have an imagination.
The same can be said about Descartes idea of God, because he “did not draw it from the senses” and that “it never came to (him) unexpectedly”(50-51) it seems that the idea of God was a gift from God himself. However, it only seems that way, for God like superman is the incarnation of everything were not. God being the nonphysical counterpart to Superman has all the abilities we don’t see in ourselves and we unconsciously create a being of perfection to fill in the voids we, as a race, have. This is universal, from the Mesopotamian gods that brought the floods each year, to the God of Abraham who wrote the Ten Commandments. Humans rely and strive on an idea of God.
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