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These mediatations were based on the epistomological theory of rationalism: that is if someone truly knows something then they could not possibly be mistaken. He goes on to provide solid argument for his ideas. In Mediations he comes to term with three certainties: the existence of the mind as the thing that thinks, the body as an extension, and God as the supreme being. He attest that he came to these conclusions by doubling all that had been taught to him in his formal education, and all he received through the senses. In the "Discourse of Method" he states his first uncertainty when he says, " I found myself embarrassed with so many doubts and errors that it seemed to me that the effort to instruct myself had no effect other than the increasing discovery of my ignorance". He has difficulty embracing the diverse, and sometimes hypocrtical, ideas that he encountered in his studies. He thought all of his confusions and indeterminate ideas were caused by the senses. Therefore, he first jettisons any information, knowledge or truths that are based on his senses. Here, he applies the "Dream Argument, " (32) where he states that based on senses alone, there is no definite way of proving that you are dreaming or that you are awake. After all, derams are indistinguishable from reality because during a dram, a person is unaware that he is dreaming. In fact, no single criterion has been established to distinguish between the conscious and a sleeplike state. Consequently, sine this very instance may be a dream, all beliefs based upon the sensory organs are dubitable. Besides, many of us, at one point in our lives, have wondered this very philosophical question: Am I dreaming? Yet, even now, most of us would claim that we are awake; however, while in a dream, on one actually believes that they are actually sleeping. Nevertheless, Decartes doesn't concretely prove that we are dreaming. He doesn't have to. Instead, he merely raises the point that, at any moment, we may be dreaming. Just by presenting this simple possibilty, Decartes successfully destroys all of our sensory By proposing the "Dream and Illusion theory" Decartes is able to judge and maintain that all his former beliefs as false. Using doubt as a tool, he is able to clearly and distinctly perceive the idea of mind. The mind represented by "I". Inorder to proof his idea of "I" did not represent the self as in physical appearances he proposes the following statement, "Thus this, "I", that is to say the soul through which I am what I am, is entirely distinct from the body and is even easier to know than the body, and event if there there were no boy at all, it would not cease to be all that it is" (Cress, pg-19). Through this, he is able to reach the conclusion even though all things may be doubtful, the fact that we doubt is not doubtful. There is doubt, thinking; which is certain. It the doubt is certain, so would be the existence of the doubter or the thinker, too, must be certain. "Cogito ero, sum" concluded Decartes. "I think, therefore I am", Decarters states that this knowledge is the only certain one, which is not derived form either sense-percepation or imagination. Decartes makes his "Cogito ergo Sum" as the starting point of his proof for the existence of God. "I think, therefore I am" is an undisputed truth. For a thinker to exist, thought must exist. Through this notion he introduces the idea of God, which arises in his mind, "I doubted and that, as a consequece, my being was not utterly perfect (for I saw clearly that it is a greater perfection to know than to doubt), I decided to search for the source from which I had learned to think of something more perfect than I was, and I plainly knew that this had to be from some nature that is infact more perfect".(Cress, pg-19). Through this proposal, he states that since every effect has a cause, the idea of God must also have some cause or basis. Since the cause cannot be less than the effect; any value or reality in effect must also be present in the cause as well. Nothing can come form nothing; which it's self is a self evident truth. Since effect cannot have, therefore, greater reality than the cause. So the idea of God, which is of an infinite being, cannot arise from a mortal, a finite being. The idea of infinite must therefore be due to the existence of an infinite, which must have placed this idea in him. Thus, proving his theory of the existence of God. From the nature of the perfection that God is, Decartes comes to conclusion that God is the ultimate causeless cause. Decartes holds that the innate idea of God that rises in the mind is sufficient proof of God's having made man in His own image. God's existence is the precondition of the existence of all other things, including the individual souls, and also of His idea in the human mind. Since there cannot be an idea of God without the existence of God. God is incorporeal, intelligence, all-knowing, good and just. He is omnipotent, eternal. He has no changes, no modes of attribute, no modifications. Bibliography: Word Count: 975
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