Rene Descartes and his Idea that Life is a "Trick"

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) who wrote in first person believed that there must be an absolute starting point when talking about doubt. He said that our sense could trick us (optical illusions). He explained that everything we see could just be a dream. However some things are different here on earth: extension (details), figure (boundaries), color, and number. His last idea was that of an evil genius. The evil genius tricks us in to believing this is all real. Descartes does not believe that this is real, but he is saying that there is no way to prove that there is not evil genius, or a dream, or an optical illusion. These ideas are roots to the popular Descartes quote, “I think therefore I am.”

Is there a way to trust your senses completely? No, any one thing could be an optical illusion and there is now way to prove its not. For example, if one were to look out on the horizon on a hot hazy day they are prone to see what looks like water on the road. This is an optical illusion, and how can one know that our whole life is not an optical illusion.

Descartes says that life could just all be a dream and there is not sure way to tell. Soccio says, “Descartes rejects sense knowledge as sufficient foundation for certainty. In so doing, he also rejects the primary of the external, physical world because it is possible that the whole so-called real world is nothing but an elaborate mental construct, a hallucination. Remember, in the interest of constructing a flawless philosophy, Descartes is being ultracautious. He will not settle for degrees of probability, no matter how “virtually certain” they may be. Whether or not you consider it probable that your world is a dream, Descartes points out that it is at least possible.” Page: 273

The last stage of Descartes doubt is that of an evil genius. The idea is that there could be an evil genius that is tricking us into believing ideas. For example, the evil genius could be tricking us into believing that 1+1=2 when it really equals four. Soccio explains in his book on page 274, “I shall then suppose, not that God who is supremely good and the fountain of truth, but some evil genius not less powerful than deceitful, has employed his whole energies in deceiving me; I shall consider that the heavens, the earth, colours, figures, sound, and all other external things are nought but the illusions and dreams of which this genius has availed himself in order to lay traps for my credulity…”