OPPOSING DESCARTES: PROVING THE EXISTENCE OF HANDS
Do I have hands? This question seems to follow with: do I have a body? If I do, then how do I know that I have them? It is my belief that I indeed do have hands (two to be exact), the very ones I am using to type. To best argue my point I will refute the argument made by Descartes in Meditation I, that I may only be dreaming and do not know for sure that I have hands. Once I have shown reason to doubt Descartes' dreaming idea, I will show that I can know that I have hands.
Descartes says that on many occasions he has been deceived by illusions in his sleep; he believed himself to be awake and found that he was merely in a dream state. Because of this, he claims, there are no distinguishing marks for when we are asleep and when we are awake; that we cannot know at any moment if we are truly awake or not. Images and actions within our dreams are identical to those in the waking world, as if painted in our minds. As a result we may see our hands and our bodies in front of us, but we cannot know if they are there, or exist at all, if we do not know that we're awake. This proof summarizes Descartes' arguments:
(1) We cannot know if we are awake or dreaming because our dreams seem as reality.
(2) If we don't know if we're awake, we can't be sure of what exists.
©) I cannot know if I have hands.
The dreaming argument presented by Descartes appears to be valid. Still, even he ends up disregarding it throughout the Meditations. It is merely a s ...