Descarte and Hume and the Problem of Other Minds - Essay Example

Descarte's and Hume's answer to Russell's question on Certainity Hume and Descartes are philosophers with diverse philosophical backgrounds but similar in criticism and skepticism. Descartes’ criticism and rationalism on doubt, led him to establish traditional social and political stand on the subject. Before him, philosophy did not care about the subject and instead it mainly dealt with assumptions. It is after the emergency of Descartes that subject gained meaning and taking central position in philosophy. His obsession in geometry, made him believe in certainty because geometry always gave a certain answer and not imaginations (Hattab 2007, p.51) He invented certainty basing on his logical doubtful whereby he doubted the existence of everything around him. He never imagined that something existed instead he had to be sure of the existence of that element by questioning. As the inventor of certainty, Descartes questioned the origin of his background and if really, God existed. Hume, on the other hand, is in total opposition of what Descartes thinks. He objects Descartes ideas and views certainty, instead he proposes uncertainty since according to him, all that is defined and perceived are just but ideas and impressions and not the real thing, he does cynical thinking about reality. In other words, Hume distinguishes between the relationship of ideas and facts (Waldow 2009, p.19). Therefore, unlike Descartes, Hume’s criticism on doubt and knowledge are based on how to tackle uncertainty and this drove him towards the principles of acceptance and tolerance. Descartes as the founder of doubt advocates that human beings should not accept anything they are not sure of, for example, he critics the discoveries of Copernicus, which undermined the earlier traditions, by questioning the views, sources and origin of the modern culture. His critics are considered the major turning point towards the western philosophy. His thinking and ideas on certainty are opposed and condemned by other philosophers. They argue that Descartes’ arguments are based on the ideas he is sure of (Loeb 2010, p.14). They say that people can make mistakes thinking that something is right but without their knowledge they have made a mistake. According to Descartes, this where doubt is applied because many people jump into conclusion without distinguishing what is certain and what seems to be certain. Certainty, according to Descartes therefore, is not just a feeling, but a deeper feeling that one has no doubt upon. He disagrees with other philosophers by saying that distinctiveness and clarity are the main principles of certainty, and should be obvious in the mind. Hence, certainty according to Descartes is tested by reason and can never be otherwise. He believes that certainty establishes truth meaning anything that means otherwise is never true. Because of his philosophical approach towards knowledge, Descartes is described as the founder of knowledge. Descartes’ main objective in his philosophical work was to establish new ideas in people’s mind and he succeeded because most modern philosophers support his enlightenment and rationalism. There is a big contraction in Descartes’ philosophical work. On one hand, he doubts the existences of everything around him, on the other hand, he is depicts himself as a normal child like any other child in the society living under the same traditional conditions. His contradiction is clearly seen when he critics every element about his philosophical background, in contrary, he lives in the same society he critics about. Likewise, in Descartes’ doubts in the existence of God, he accepts his existence in order to overcome the many questions about the origin of human race and ideas. This means that Descartes could never live without certainty giving him a certain response to philosophy. Hume’s criticism, doubt and knowledge on how to tackle uncertainty, drove him towards acceptance and tolerance (Clark 2009, p.78). This made him understand the various minorities and diversities in the society. According to Hume, nothing must be taken for granted and that even the obvious things should be questioned to avoid misconceptions, and this lead to employment of truth, listening to various opinions from everybody in society without refuting any form of liberty. According to Hume, nothing is real and that all things are based on what we think. Many philosophers have also differentiated knowledge that is obtained through the mind and knowledge that is obtained because of reasoning. For example, Hume distinguished trial reasons on matter of truth and well being from mere thoughts amount and figures. In answering Bertrand Russell question if there are any knowledge in the world which is so certain no reasonable man could doubt it, Hume and Descartes answers this question basing on their way of understanding knowledge. Descartes answers this question by saying that knowledge goes hand in hand with certainty. He says that for one to understand knowledge, he or she has to understand certainty. His understanding on certainty is based on his belief about doubt whereby he says that for a belief to be certain there is no point of doubt. If the elements of doubts are noticed then that belief is not certain hence no knowledge. Descartes argues that in the world, knowledge is only seen where there is no doubts and truth should be applied in order to gain knowledge (Kail 2008, p.314). On the other hand, Hume answers the question by saying that understanding and tolerance should be the main principles of knowledge. He argues that there should be democracy in the world whereby everybody should have the freedom to give his or her opinions on particular issues that may affect the society. He stresses that all the diversities and minorities in society should be given a chance to give out their opinions. According to Hume, nothing should be taken for granted because all opinion matters. Therefore, according to Hume, nothing is real or certain; everything depends on how it is being perceived and that is how the real world is. Meaning Hume has impressions that in life we can make mistakes unknowingly and this should be tolerated, unlike Descartes who stresses that there should be no perception or jumping into conclusion about thing anything. I tend to agree with Hume’s philosophical sketch of tolerance and understanding, because we are all different and the way one person sees things is not the same way another person will see them. Therefore, knowledge is truth and for it to be understood, individuals should be given a chance of airing out their opinion in the society. On the other hand, I disagree with Descartes because his philosophical sketch is based on what he beliefs in and not what others belief. In conclusion, Hume believes in uncertainty while Descartes stresses on certainty. Whatever is certain in Descartes is uncertain in Hume meaning Hume’s philosophy focuses on particularity, skeptical leading to uncertainty, and this is how people in the world perceive things (Russell & Watkins 2004, p.431). Similar to Kant, I also agree with Hume’s way of thinking and I concur with his tolerance and understanding towards real life. References Clark, S. 2009, "No Abiding City: Hume, Naturalism, and Toleration", Philosophy, vol. 84, no.1, pp. 75-94. Hattab, H. 2007, "Concurrence or Divergence? Reconciling Descartes's Physics with hisMetaphysics", Journal of the History of Philosophy, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 49-78. Loeb, L. E., 2010. Reflection and the Stability of Belief: Essays on Descartes, Hume, and Reid.New York: Oxford University Press. Kail, P.J.E. 2008, "Hume, Malebranche and 'Rationalism'", Philosophy, vol. 83, no. 3, pp. 311-332. Russell, P. & Watkins, E. 2004, "Butler's "Future State" and Hume's "Guide of Life"/Kant's Model of Causality: Causal Powers, Laws, and Kant's Reply to Hume", Journal of the History of Philosophy, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 425-488. Waldow, A., 2009. David Hume and the Problem of Other Minds. New York: ContinuumInternational Publishing Group. Read More