How can our senses deceive us

POST AND REPLY(PHIL)

RESPONSE TO THIS 250 WORDS MIN

Why doesn’t Descartes simply determine what's real by looking around him and use his sense experience?

REPLY TO EACH POST THERE ARE TWO 100 WORDS MIN EACH

1. The entire project of Descartes is to establish what is true by completely throwing out all of our previous knowledge, because it could very well could be incorrect. Descartes starts by doubting everything, and one of the fallible means by which we gain knowledge is with our senses. Descartes states “my senses deceive me therefore I cannot trust them”. For example, we can see a rainbow that doesn't exist caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets. When we are sick our senses of taste and smell can be off due to increased mucous secretions, as well as nasal swelling and inflammation. One time I was hiking and felt a sharp pain in the bottom of my foot. I was thoroughly convinced that there was either an insect biting me or a thorn pressing into my foot after feeling that pain. I took off my boot and there was nothing there. No insect and no thorn. Even after taking off my socks and boots I continued to feel that pain. I was absolutely sure that there was something in my boot, but my senses were merely tricking me. There are many examples of our senses making mistakes, so how can we be sure that what we perceive through our senses is even real? Or even worse still, how can we be sure that we're not dreaming? A prime example being the brain in a vat theory. These are all questions that Descartes attempts to answer. Descartes knows that using our senses is not sufficient because they can sometimes deceive us. Therefore he goes on a search for truth based on what very little he knows without using his sense experience.

2. For this weeks forum I decided to answer the question about "I am; I exist - this is certain". I chose this question because I find Descartes explanation extremely interesting. Descartes knows for certain that he exist because he thinks. This is where the saying " I think therefor I am" comes into play. Descartes believe that just because he is able to think that means he is. He also believes that this is the only way evil spirits can't manipulate him into believing something is true. God is allowing him to thing so that means he is there. I find this super interesting because he states that the limbs on his own body might not even be real it could just be a deception. I understand what he is trying to do by saying this I honestly just find it to be a lot to take in. He is only certain that he is there because he is thinking. That is just wild to me, obviously this is a very different time but I just don't think I would ever have the mindset that Descartes has. He believes everything else can basically be made up because of evil spirits trying to deceive him. Just like the example of a yellow lemon, he thinks evil is making him see something that isn't real. I might be the only one who things this is wild and thats fine, but if I can physically touch something, I am going to believe it is real. This weeks reading about Descartes is extremely interesting, it has me thinking a lot about philosophy as a whole. I think the way he saw the world is extreme, but I like seeing how people looked at things