The question of our existence in reality have been dwelling for years among philosophers. However non is more notable, in terms of knowledge on this matter, than Rene Descartes. The phrase "I think therefore I am" is the spirit and soul of Descartes philosophy on human existence. Furthermore, Descartes put forth a distinct method of doubting to determine whether certain knowledge is indubitable or not. Descartes" divergent thinking left many philosophers questioning how reliable his method actually was. Among them was a man named Elliot Sober who believed that some of Descartes" arguments were trapped in the Cartesian Circle. Nonetheless, both philosophers were trying to boil down to one thing: to discover an unblemished system to establishing the foundation of true knowledge. .
In order to understand Rene Descartes" philosophy one must recognize how he came across his conclusion. At some point of Descartes" life he realized that a solid foundation was much needed in order for knowledge to be absolutely true. Much like in architecture, a stable foundation is needed for a building to be secure and safe. Descartes was trying to recognize what foundational knowledge he had were indubitable but realized that he had close to none. Consequently, he came to the conclusion that anything that had a probable doubt may not necessarily be completely false but it is also not absolutely certain. Hallucinations and illusions prove that our senses can occasionally be deceptive and that alone is sufficient evidence to conclude that our senses do not assure us that our hands, body, and self image in fact exists. Descartes also believed that it is next to impossible to determine whether we are awake or in a dream at this very moment. Based on this thought we may essentially be bizarre looking beings in a dream which we see human beings as our self image today. Descartes however cleared things up by stating although we cannot be certain about what we actually look like, we can be sure that there is something that appear like human beings because in order for any being to dream about a matter they must already have had that image or experience in their mind.
