Why is Descartes certain that he exists?
Descartes starts out writing while his sits in front of hit fireplace; he needs to figure out if he is in fact sleeping or awake. Descartes has started a path that he calls Meditations on First Philosophy. It is called First Philosophy because he is getting rid of all of his preconceived notions, and everything else the thought he knew about philosophy. Descartes now needs to doubt everything, and start fresh with nothing. First he decides that the motions he makes, and the things he sees on the walls could be just a recollection of what things look like in front of his fireplace. He goes on to ask if he is in fact real. Could he be just a part of someone else’s dream, or even a more powerful God’s dream?
Descartes decides that dreams can be just as real as waking life, things look the same, and you can have emotions in a dream just like when you are awake. All of your senses are there, you can touch and see a desk, or even smell a fresh apple pie in the oven. So what can be seen as a certain thing? He examines many disciplines, arithmetic, and geometry and so on. He looks to his belief in God. Could it be that there is an evil power that is deceiving him, and maybe he in fact has no hands or feet or even body at all, doesn’t exist in the real world, and is merely a thought of someone else? It is in this regard that in Meditation One he now doubts everything. If he is in fact part of some evil workers plan, than everything can be doubted, even such certain things like the sciences and arithmetic.
In Meditation Two Descartes figures something very important out about his existence. ...