Truth through Extensions

In Descartes' scrupulous writings, he further goes onto explanation of his first meditation; of which he describes that he has solely devoted his life for “truth” and in doing so Descartes has rejected anything which may deceive us. In this case Descartes states that “our senses sometimes deceive us”(60). With this premises Descartes argues that if one can make a mistake in even the most “simplest matters” that we should reject all falsehood. By this notion Descartes also goes onto further explanation of dreams, and argues that one must be able to disregard dreams from reality because one can think in reality. Descartes states, “I think, therefore I am” (61) to support his claim that this was the most reliable method because this claim is not open for opposition and therefore flawless in a sense. Descartes supports this claim by using the mind as an example. Descartes argues that if one can pretend the world or the body did not exist at all, it would only make sense if one had existed in the first place to conjure up such ideas. Descartes clearly believes that one must have thought in order to exist, but he also believes perfection is derived from nature. The idea of perfection of the heavens and the earth all seemed to be interconnected by the very idea of nature, and therefore if these ideas were not true they were derived from nothing and as a result there is a “defect” in man.
In Descartes second meditation, Descartes moves aside any doubt for which may have defect and in doing so he can decipher what is certain from what is not. He disregards his senses because he believes they are false. Descartes argues that we must not question every detail, but focus on what is certain. As a result he questions the body and the soul, in some sense he uses the two terms as an extension of one. Descartes claims that he can describe the body but when describing the soul he could not. By this very notion he questions the nature of the body and try's to decipher what the body and the soul truly is. Descartes questions his own existence by describing the nature of the body but also includes the idea that he may in fact be dreaming and by this he must disregard the dream. He further goes onto explanation and states that our senses are easily deceptive and what we see through our senses may be an optical illusion.
All in all, Descartes is arguing that we must disregard our senses in order to find truth. Descartes clearly argues that our thoughts are substantial to understand our very existence; however the methods of discovery do not necessarily rely on our senses or our dreams but through the extensions of truth.