Reality based on Rene Descartes

Running head: POSITION PAPER ON REALITY
POSITION PAPER ON REALITY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1POSITION PAPER ON REALITY
Reality, in the colloquial usage of the term, refers to the state of things that have a
physical existence. Philosophers over the years have tried to explain the concept in a varied
number of ways from different points of view. In the following paper is attempted a definition of
reality that is based on the first and second meditations of Descartes.
Rene Descartes, known as the father of modern Western philosophy, was a French
philosopher, scientist and mathematician. One of his most celebrated texts, Meditations on First
Philosophy published in the year 1641 in Latin, deals with the skeptic analysis of the term
reality. The philosopher then tries to establish the beliefs that can be taken to be known with
certainty. In the first of the six meditations, is found that the meditator discards all the beliefs
that he had faith on during his lifespan till that particular time. The person tries to rebuild his
beliefs, this time basing them on more definite arguments (Descartes 2013). In the second
meditation, Descartes presents the concept of representationalism. According to the philosopher,
a person can reach out to the world in an indirect manner through his own world of ideas, that
include all that the mind contains ranging from perceptions, memories and images to beliefs,
decisions, intentions and so on. The second meditation contains the famous theory of “Cogito
Ergo Sum” which translates into “I think therefore I am” and the wax argument (Hasdan 2017).
The theory of Descartes may be objected from a number of varied viewpoints. The theory
propounded by the philosopher faces objections regarding the issue of not being able to
distinguish between the state of wakefulness and dreams. According to another famous
philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, Descartes had identified thinking or intellect with the thing which
understands (Adams 2014). Hobbes argues that in the famous argument of Descartes, “cogito
ergo sum” which translates into “I think therefore I am [existent]”, the second part of the
proposition depends on the knowledge of the first proposition (Mori 2012).