rings up the question, does there exist a true reality. Assuming that there is a God, he is all powerful, and created this world; Descartes indicates "How do I know that he did not bring it about that there is no earth at all, no heavens, no extended thing, no shape, no size, no place, and yet bringing it about that all these things appear to me to exist precisely as they do now?" Without a guarantee of reality, maybe context, in general is wrong. Descartes then doubts the supreme goodness of a God that would let him be deceived even occasionally. And if there does not exist a perfect God then it becomes more probably that he himself is increasingly imperfect. Descartes will assume the worst scenario, that God is really an evil genius. Therefore he must treat all external things as traps and deceptions. By the second meditation Descartes has found the fact he is looking for, "I think, I am". The simple fact that he thinks, which cannot be doubted, is the proof that he exists. Even if there is an evil genius deceiving him, the fact that there is some thing to be deceived proves that he exists. But what is this "I"? Of what parts is it made of and how does it relate to reality, or a perception of it? The "I" is made of several parts. The first he recognizes as a body. He has hands, arms, and feet that he can easily claim as his own. Descartes recognizes them as the same parts as can be seen on a corpse. He describes a body as "all that is capable of being bounded by some shape, of being enclosed in a place, and of filling up a space in such a way as to exclude any other body from it; of being perceived by touch, sight, hearing, taste, or smell; of being moved in several ways, not, of course, by itself, but by whatever else impinges upon it." The body cannot sense, move, or think on it's own these attributes belong to the other parts. The ability to eat, move, and sense can all be linked to the soul. However, although Descartes can state t...
