Philosphy Discussion Week Two

Philosophy DB2

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Philosophy DB2

Part I

My senses have fooled me on several occasions but in one occasion I was driving down the road at dusk when I swore I saw and old woman standing by the road. When I saw what appeared to be a woman on the side of the road I was about fifty yards away. As I got closer to the “woman” I realized it was a tall box with an old blanket hanging out of the side and no an old woman. I was completely caught off guard by the fact my eyes had fooled me and I thought I might need glasses but when I went to the optometrist this was not the case. In this case my eyes fooled me and it took getting close to the object to realize I was mistaken.

It is reasonable to rely on my senses because relying on reason alone is not enough. Reality is perception and each person’s reality is different but our senses help us to differentiate different smells or to visually identify objects and are needed to obtain certain knowledge (Melchert, 2007). For example people learn the smell of smoke which alerts them to fire. This smell is the same for everyone and results in the person identifying the fact that fire is close by. Without senses it would difficult to differentiate certain things or aspects in society. Since sense rarely deceive us we can trust what we hear, see, smell feel, and taste.

Part Two

Descartes’ comparison of himself to a madman is unrealistic. If our sense fooled us to the extent he claims we would all be madmen. What I experience may not be explainable or provable but it is. A madman could not develop the thought to ever question whether or not their senses are fooling them. Descartes said “I think, therefore I am” (Magnusan, 2007). What I experience is real because I must rely on my senses and my ability to reason. It is important to be aware our sense can sometimes fail us but they are an integral part of our perception.

An experience is valid if it is perceived to be valid. Human perception is essential to a person’s reality and evaluating what is real. Reason helps us to establish what we perceive which in part is due to our senses. If our eyes see a bear and our ears here it roar our sense help us to perceive the danger in order to flee. If we later learn the bear was not real, our senses may have deceived us but they also help to prepare us for the potential danger. It is reasonable to flee from what we thought was a bear. If we ignored our senses and took time to assess the situation applying reason only to whether or not the bear was real could cause a person to fail to flee increasing their danger. Reason is necessary and so is relying on the senses.

References

Magnusan, G. (2007). Descartes. Retrieved February 17, 2014 from

http://verbumlogos.com/2007_03_01_archive.html

Melchert, N. (2007). The great conversation: A historical introduction to philosophy. New York,

NY: Oxford University.