Meditations On First Philosophy: A Philosophical Analysis

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In this philosophical essay, I will be evaluating the puzzle “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?” As I evaluate this puzzle, I will look at it from an epistemological standpoint, what makes this result a fact versus just an opinion. Also, I will be considering this statement through the eyes of John Locke, seeing how his empiricist beliefs would pose an answer to this question. What exactly is epistemology? As stated in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief” (Steup para 1). Essentially what this means is that individuals that study epistemology study the fact that stuff doesn’t just happen. Everything happens for a …show more content…
His beliefs questioned everything around us; everything we thought we knew existed could potentially be a hallucination or just one life long dream. Descartes speaks of how in his dream; it feels as though he is really sitting beside a fire. Upon waking up he realizes this is just a dream and all of this is just an illusion in his mind. So now the question exists, how do individuals know what is perceived everyday is actually real, or is it all just a dream like illusion. An excerpt from “Meditations on First Philosophy” by Descartes supports this …show more content…
How, then, do I know that he has not arranged that there should be neither earth, nor sky, nor any extended thing, nor figure, nor magnitude, nor place, providing at the same time, however, for [the rise in me of the perceptions of all these objects, and] the persuasion that these do not exist otherwise than as I perceive them? And further, as I sometimes think that others are in error respecting matters of which they believe themselves to possess a perfect knowledge, how do I know that I am not also deceived each time I add together two and three, or number the sides of a square, or form some judgment still more simple, if more simple indeed can be imagined? But perhaps Deity has not been willing that I should be thus deceived, for he is said to be supremely good. If, however, it were repugnant to the goodness of Deity to have created me subject to constant deception, it would seem likewise to be contrary to his goodness to allow me to be occasionally deceived; and yet it is clear that this is permitted” (para
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