Jason Midkiff

PHI 100
11-3-2015
Descartes doubted everything at first, then eventually moved on to having certainties he
could trust based on his thinking and the existence of god. In the beginning of his work,
Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes doubts the knowledge we have because our
experiences of the world doesnt provide the basis for which our knowledge can be built upon.
He also questions how true our thoughts are, he theorizes there could be a deceptive god or evil
demon putting incorrect knowledge into our mind. In order to prove this wrong he must prove
that he exists and that a god that is not deceptive exists. Descartes proves he exists due to the fact
that he is thinking. I think therefore I am, this is what Descartes is known for. The thoughts could
be incorrect, you could think the 2+2=6 but still, something has to be thinking this incorrect
thought, therefore something exists (pg. 492). Descartes proof of god relates to how a company
makes their product, they always trademark it, put their symbol on it. This is what god did with
humans, we are born with an innate ideal of god put there by god, and this innate ideal is gods
trademark on humans. Descartes also states that humans could not have created god because our
knowledge is finite where god is infinite (Pg. 501). Next Descartes must prove that god cannot
be deceiving. He says that since god is a perfect being and being deceptive is an imperfect
quality then god cannot be deceptive (Pg. 502). With the proof of god and the proof that god is
not deceptive Descartes find some certainty in his life.
Descartes gave very little credit to the senses, he relied on his thinking more than
anything; David Hume is the complete opposite of this. According to Hume there are two kinds

of perceptions in our minds, Impressions and Ideas. Impressions come from the senses and other
sensations, they are immediate and lively. Thoughts come from when we think back on
impressions, these are less lively (pg.726). This is where Hume and Descartes become really
different, Hume believes that all thoughts and ideas come from our impressions. Hume claims
this because every thought we have can be traced back to an impression. He uses the example of
a golden mountain, no such mountain exists, but humans have created it by combining our
impressions of gold and our impression of a mountain (Pg. 726-727). The mind is still very
important to Hume though, its job is to make sense of all these impressions. The mind creates the
associations that allow us to make out thoughts, and to understand the world. These associations
cannot be certain though, for example cause of effect. If I drop a ball I know it will fall to the
ground based on my experience, but there is nothing in the ball that says it will drop. And sense
this is only based on experience it cannot be certain. So the mind and the body is important to
Hume, to Descartes it was only the mind.
I support Hume, mainly for the fact that Descartes disregarded senses. I think sense are
really important, if we had zero senses then we would not perceive the world at all, therefore we
wouldnt be able to think at all. But I believed thinking is just as important due to the limitations
of senses. Senses cannot allow us to discover mathematical truths, or how the universal works,
we need our ability to think to do that. I feel like Hume puts more emphasis on both aspects,
which is why I enjoy his writings more. Descartes does have a valid point with the wax example
though, the wax completely changes due to heat, and our senses think its something different.
But because of our ability to think we know its the same thing. This is why I believe that both
the senses and thinking are very important.