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Descartes and Hume

Introduction

Rene Descartes, who is known as the father of modern philosophy was a great thinker and philosopher. Among many of his philosophies the most famous one statement is, “I think therefore I am” that gives a broad and clear view about human beings as every human being known and recognized by his thoughts. Among his a lot of work in the field of philosophy, one of his the most significant works is the “Meditations”. He is well recognized because of his immense work upon the development of modern science and philosophy. David Hume was also a great philosopher and he also worked a lot in the field of philosophy as well as of sociology. Among his many works, the most prominent is “An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding”. Here is an essay regarding the comparison between Descartes and Hume's works in the field of sociology by comparing their writing and thought about 'Meditations' and 'Enquiry'.

Discussion

Firstly, for the better understanding of the Descartes work, it is significant to know that he was born in the age of great upheaval and change. At that time, the revolution of science was in full movement and swing and his work contributed a lot to change the long held beliefs regarding the nature of the universe and this world. If one consider the overall framework of the life of Descartes' then there will come a more clearly understanding of his work on “Meditation on First Philosophy”. The “Meditation on First Philosophy” comprises on six parts of meditations. The sequence and order of his work on meditations go through the methodology that is assumed for completing his mission as he worked to provide a strong foundation to all the sciences and by that explores the truth.

On the other hand, Hume differentiates between two types of skepticism which are: antecedent skepticism, and consequent skepticism. Both skepticisms describe both moderate and extreme forms. He recognizes through that the universal doubt of the Descartes with the extreme type of skepticism. The doubts of the Descartes regarding the universe calls into question the testimony of senses and all the former opinions. Hume suggested first, that there is no any principle or rule that could provide some self-evidence beyond the doubts and second, if there could be some sort of first rule then we could not approach forward beyond its limits.

The first part of the Meditation is concerned about those things that could be called as doubt and by this method; Descartes starts the mediations by saying that there could be a lot of false and doubtful opinions that he held to be as truth about his youth, but in reality that is completely false and inappropriate. The new knowledge of that time was so shocking to the Descartes so he set out his own meditation in order to provide reasons and proofs that why there is a need to doubt all the things especially the materialistic things as off course there is ...