Descartes And Berkeley On Skepticism About The Senses
Submitted by on January 1, 1999
Category: Philosophy
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Descartes and Berkeley on Skepticism About the Senses
The philosophers Geroge Berkeley and Renee Descartes both had
strong opinions on skepticism about the senses. In this paper, I
will explain their philosophies and why they are different and
then evaluate them.
In his Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes suggests
that the senses are like a friend who has lied to you once and
whom you therefore cannot trust, at least not until you’ve
proven that he or she is not an evil genius. The possibility of
an evil genius making everything a dream keeps Descartes awake
all night. He thinks he can’t trust his senses because of this.
He also considers a piece of wax. He claims that in the case of
the wax, the senses can only see changes. The senses cannot see
things that stay the...