Monday, September 21, 2009
Descartes-Shannon Stanis
I agree with Descartes that the senses can be misleading. What we often feel is right can lead us to mishap. A big example of this happens everyday. We see people get caught up into pyramid schemes or tricked into giving away their personal information. People feel that they can trust others when they should have been more skeptical. We are taught as children to be careful of strangers but at the same time that all people are basically good inside. It is a paradox that leads to trouble. I don't think we should not be trusting of others, but we all should be careful. I know that there is much more to his project than this, but this is what I thought of when reading that section. We, as humans, rely on our senses and intuition to lead us through every day life. Concerning ‘constrained at last to avow that there is nothing of all that I formerly believed to be true of which it is impossible to doubt.', I think we must always be searching for answers. It is in our nature, we are curious beings. Also, knowing that something could possibly be false, but still believing in it is an incredible trait. This faith is beautiful in my opinion and something to be admired. We must always believe and be curious.
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I agree that it is interesting that we can believe what we know to be false, but in the end is this not what sets back the human race? We hold onto our early notions in life and don't give them up. Consider they racists whose minds you can't change, or the murderers who believe whatever they do is right. It is our core notions which sometimes must be change, and yet that very change is what we resist most.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your defense of curiosity, Shannon! But I admit I share a bit of the concern that Adam seems to have here: we do often hold faith to be a positive value, but it certainly can be in tension with reason, and sometimes seems baseless. If a would-be suicide bomber told you that he was about to perform his act because he had faith that he would be rewarded with many virgins after his death, presumably you wouldn't find that a beautiful thing? So when is it ok to hold out 'faith' as opposed to examining everything rationally (as Descartes claims he is doing)?
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