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| Rene Descartes ¹ |
“In the same way I thought that the sciences contained in books (such of them at least as are made up of probable reasonings, without demonstrations), composed as they are of the opinions of many different individuals massed together, are farther removed from truth than the simple inferences which a man of good sense using his natural and unprejudiced judgment draws respecting the matters of his experience. And because we have all to pass through a state of infancy to manhood, and have been of necessity, for a length of time, governed by our desires and preceptors (whose dictates were frequently conflicting, while neither perhaps always counselled us for the best), I farther concluded that it is almost impossible that our judgments can be so correct or solid as they would have been, had our reason been mature from the moment of our birth, and had we always been guided by it alone.”²
Descartes journey not only leads him to better understanding other religions, races, traditions, and cultures, but it helps him better understand himself, mankind's connection to God, and even God himself. In his coming to the conclusions he does of mankind's connection with God, he understands and speaks of how even though we as humans are imperfect beings, we are still rational. With our rationality, we can understand and acknowledge our imperfectness, and come to the realization that through God, we remain stable imperfect beings, that even though our dependence relies on God, because he is perfect, we can be perfect through him.
“But at the end of the path, Descartes arrived at an absolutely indubitable: the so-called cogito, the “I think,” meaning “I am aware, sensorily,
appetitively, imaginatively, recollectively, intellectually, and volitionally.”
To attempt to doubt one's self-presence in wakeful states is to instantiate it. From that
fixed point, Descartes attempted to
prove the substantial difference between thought so conceived and body as
extension; then the existence of God as
non-deceiver, a mathematically reconstructed view of nature, the control of
which for human benefit was the ultimate fruit; and, finally, a rehabilitation
of the sensory world as a coherent presentation of threats and opportunities
for human adjustment to the environment. Human subjectivity took center stage
and has directed modernity ever since.”³
Throughout his journey, he comes to many realizations, everything from the constitution of mankind, to our connection to God, God himself and how he is connected to everything, the individuals ability to recognize itself, etc. With his ability to open his self to other outside people and cultures, he was able to step away from the scriptures and texts of the ancients, and truly try to experience life in his own way.
His studies were graced with hard to get books and scriptures from old ancients and those who had experienced big things in their lives. Descartes considered himself very lucky to have the education he did, being taught by the best while studying the best. But he felt let down and unfulfilled when he came to the understanding that with all the knowledge at his hands, he was not truly learning how mankind was in the real world, in the moment and sporadically. With this he started to hold his own opinions, to look more into his own, to look at the souls and beings of those around him, and to try to include himself in all the thriving life and action around him.
"For as I had from that time begun to hold my own opinions for
nought because I wished to subject them all to examination, I was convinced
that I could not do better than follow in the meantime the opinions of the most
judicious; and although there are some perhaps among the Persians and Chinese
as judicious as among ourselves, expediency seemed to dictate that I should regulate
my practice conformably to the opinions of those with whom I should have to
live; and it appeared to me that, in order to ascertain the real opinions of
such, I ought rather to take cognizance of what they practised than of what
they said, not only because, in the corruption of our manners, there are few
disposed to speak exactly as they believe, but also because very many are not
aware of what it is that they really believe; for, as the act of mind by which
a thing is believed is different from that by which we know that we believe it,
the one act is often found without the other.”⁴
Another problem he encounters through his journey is the lack of people to be able to open up, to do something that might be considered uncomfortable. He found that many people choose the beaten path, the paved and easy one that seems comfortable and 'familiar". He wants people to be able to come out of themselves, as he wishes for himself, to step out of the familiar and do something unusual from what they have always known.
“But the reason which leads many to persuade themselves that
there is a difficulty in knowing this truth, and even also in knowing what
their mind really is, is that they never raise their thoughts above sensible
objects, and are so accustomed to consider nothing except by way of
imagination, which is a mode of thinking limited to material objects, that all
that is not imaginable seems to them not intelligible.”⁵
Descartes mentions how professors and
philosophers teach that there exists nothing that cannot be perceived by the
senses:
“…the philosophers of the schools accept as a maxim that
there is nothing in the understanding which was not previously in the senses,
in which however it is certain that the ideas of God and of the soul have never
been; and it appears to me that they who make use of their imagination to
comprehend these ideas do exactly the same thing as if, in order to hear sounds
or smell odours, they strove to avail themselves of their eyes;…”⁶
While in the subject of the senses and the human/animal anatomy, he also speaks of life that does not come from God, like that is created by humans but does not have the capacity to preform and act as humans do through God's grace. He applies the concept of two tests to any artificial
intelligent life that could be like a machine or “robot”
1.
not having the ability to truly express themselves as humans can: being hurt,
expressing emotion, etc.
2.
Do not have the ability to act out actions from which they have not the
appropriate organ.
“It could be discovered that they did not act from knowledge,
but solely from the disposition of their organs: for while reason is an
universal instrument that is alike available on every occasion, these organs,
on the contrary, need a particular arrangement for each particular action;
whence it must be morally impossible that there should exist in any machine a
diversity of organs sufficient to enable it to act in all the occurrences of
life, in the way in which our reason enables us to act.”⁷
Robots do not have the ability to act outside of
themselves, quite like a human who has never been allowed or never experienced/ventured past what they have always known, what is common to them,
or regular. They do not have God flowing through them, they do not have the internal organs and blood pumping and beating inside of them, they do not have a soul or the ability to gather experiences and learn as Rene Descartes and all other humans do. The moment he speaks of the artificial life, is the moment his work truly comes together, for it is here that the ability to learn, experience, think and reflect, and understand, is truly seen as a gift from God by God, for the human person, the rational soul.
We are material creatures, but immaterial beings, at the same time. Our two natures co exist, and this is one of Descartes main points throughout his work, without directly saying it. Through his time with different people, understanding different minds and outlooks on life from the people themselves, he was able to grasp concepts of the human mind and conscience. Toward the end of his writing, he makes note of how if he had never stepped away from his classroom with all of his books and teachers, he might never have come to the conclusions he did. It was only through hands on experience and time, energy, thinking and rationalization that he was able to truly grasp a better understand of what it means to be a man in this world filled with so much life and meaning.
“Besides this, the habit which they will acquire, by seeking
first what is easy, and then passing onward slowly and step by step to the more
difficult, will benefit them more than all my instructions. Thus, in my own
case, I am persuaded that if I had been taught from my youth all the truths of
which I have since sought out demonstrations, and had thus learned them without
labour, I should never, perhaps, have known any beyond these; at least, I
should never have acquired the habit and the facility which I think I possess
in always discovering new truths in proportion as I give myself to the search.
And, in a single word, if there is any work in the world which cannot be so
well finished by another as by him who has commenced it, it is that at which I
labour.”⁸
Bibliography
² Rene Descartes, “Discourse on the
Method…”, 1635, https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/descartes/1635/discourse-method.htm
, P. 2, Para. 1
³ Robert Wood, “New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2012-2013: Ethics
and Philosophy”. Ed.
Robert L. Fastiggi. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 2013. p1478-1480.
⁴ Rene Descartes, “Discourse on the
Method”, P. 3, Para. 2
⁵ IBID, P. 4, Para. 6
⁶ IBID, P. 4, Para. 6
⁷ IBID, P. 5, Para. 7
⁸ IBID, P. 6, Para. 6
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