Papers > Miscellaneous > Should we be sceptical about the existence of the material world that surrounds us If so
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Should we be sceptical about the existence of the material world that surrounds us If so
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... How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world? ... These questions are exactly the ones Descartes was asking himself in his first and second meditations, in which he considers the fact that our sensory perception is often deceiving, and that the result is constant uncertainty about the existence of the material world as the possibility that we are in an alternative reality is opened up. ... The idea of an alternative reality may not be proved false, but it does not follow that we should therefore take it to be true.
It was Descartes in the Meditations who first questioned the ability of the senses to relate to us what exists in the real world. Each day the senses are trusted to relate information about the world around us – our eyes tell us that a car is coming as we look to cross the road, our ears tell us when the referee has stopped a game of football and so on. However, there are many occasions when our senses tell us something that is not actually the case. ... The fact that it is not always possible to trust what it is the senses tell us, coupled with the fact that it is the senses which tell us about the existence of the external world, mean it is not always possible to trust the existence of the external world.
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Paper Information
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Title: Should we be sceptical about the existence of the material world that surrounds us If so
Words: 1097
Rating: None
Pages: 4.4
submitted by: laurencejames
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