Descartes Rationalism a Rationalist Is

Descartes Rationalism A Rationalist is a person who believes that ideas and thinking is a path to knowledge. Descartes who was the philosopher of early modern period is famous as rationalist due to his concept of "rationalism." Rationalism is a concept or a belief that we can have knowledge without experiencing the real world. An opposing belief or a rejection to rationalism is "empiricism" which gives the idea that knowledge and ideas are based on the real world.

According to Descartes concept of rationalism, there are different ways through which we gain our concepts and knowledge without actually experiencing anything. He did not support empiricism concept that considers our mind to be a blank state for the influx or incursion of sense experience. It was evident that Descartes favors rationalism when he presented his Meditations model and rejected all the knowledge that is gained from experience. He believed "it is the clear and distinct ideas and not the sensation which provide the ultimate foundations of knowledge" (Pereboom 8).

Descartes theory seems interesting to me because he gave an idea that we can know anything just by thinking about it and without leaving the chair or performing any action. He proved his argument of rationalism by saying his claim 'cogito ergo sum' which means "I think, therefore I am." In the same way, he explained the existence of God that because he can think about God so God exist.

His idea seems correct to me to some extent and I agree that there are several things that we perceive, imagine, think and understand without really doing or experiencing. For instance, if someone tells me about a road accident so I can imagine although I was not present at the exact location. Similarly I can imagine, think or plan whatever I want without leaving my place. However, this does not mean that knowledge gained from experiences and observations can be denied.

In fact I believe that we learn a lot from our observations and experiences. This idea can be further understood by considering a simple example of two identical twins brothers. If both are equally sharp and intelligent but brought up in different environments then there thinking and way of perceiving things will be different. This is due to the reason that both have experienced and observed different situations in life which has affected their level of thinking.

If I agree to the Descartes idea of rationalism then why two brothers think in a different way when they are identical twins. This shows that the experience and observations is also a path of knowledge and we learn a lot from what we suffer in our life. I do not agree with Descartes idea of rejecting all knowledge that is gained from experience. Indeed, I strongly believe that the knowledge that is gained from experiences cannot be learned by just sitting and imagining things.

There are several cases in which it was observed that a less educated but experienced person is found to be more intelligent than a highly educated but little work experienced person. This is due to the reason that experiences and observations give us practical lessons that cannot be just learned by reading books or imagining situations in the classroom. One reason of Descartes favoring rationalism was that he did not like vague and inaccurate results.

Indeed he claimed that he loved math because it gives definite conclusions while he despised philosophy because it hardly gives a specific result or conclusion. In order to reach to definite conclusions in philosophy he introduced and used systematic doubt. It is a concept in which all the things that have even the lowest possibility of being false are rejected. He used this approach for finding the accurate answers in the field of philosophy which are always based on the concept of reason and rationality without any empirical evidence.

Descartes believed that observations and experiences do not give accurate knowledge and the results obtained are always vague. Therefore the knowledge or information that is learned by experiencing or observing something is not accurate as there is no empirical evidence for it. Different people analyze different situations differently and reach to different conclusions. In supporting his idea he further argued that the senses should not be trusted because people get fooled by their sense.

This is due to the reason that many variables affect a person's way of looking and perceiving an event. That's why different people experience same event in different ways. I do agree with Descartes on this point but at the same time it is also true that majority of the people look at a particular situation in a similar way and reach to similar accurate conclusions.

For instance, considering the example of road accident again, if 20 persons watch an accident then majority of them can point out who was responsible for the accident. All of these people view same situation from their own perspective but reach to almost similar conclusion. Therefore it cannot be said that the senses completely fool the person and give him/her wrong information. Descartes was a complete rationalist and I do not totally agree with him because I believe that a lot can learn from observation and experience.

The interpretation of situations or events from mind is another variable but cannot be taken the way Descartes has claimed. I believe that rationalism is an ideal situation or our imagination and it is almost impossible to reach at a pure state of total rationalism. This is due to the reason that our conclusions are based on the imperfect perceptions. Imperfect perfections are because of the subjectivity and it is not possible to separate the subjectivity from our logic, thinking and perception.

We have to take into consideration the subjectivity and we can never believe something to be completely 100% true until and unless we see it. Descartes also confirmed that he is a rationalist by giving wax theory. He explained that a person can rely on someone else's senses of perception by giving example of a candle. The original candle has a unique shape but when it is burned and melted, it changes into a totally different shape and different characteristics.

He further argued that the solid wax which has qualities of being hard and scent is when placed near heat or fire; it melts and its physical structure changes. Similarly all the senses are when obliterated in one object; the result is a sensible object which.