Descartes' Discourse On The Method - "Surprise Ending" Essay Sample

Descartes' Discourse on the Method - "Surprise Ending."

In the beginning, the author, the author says that he chose to suppose that nothing was like such as the senses of the people that lets them imagine simply because their senses sometimes deceive them. This is surprising when the author says that our senses can deceive us (Descartes, 2005). This is not a usual thing for an individual’s sense to deceive him or her in doing anything that he or she did not intend doing. The author is thus found much from his statements. He also adds by saying that he rejects the unsound arguments that he had taken as demonstrative proof simply because some men may make mistakes while reasoning. This includes reasoning in the very simplest question of geometry and thus they may commit some logical fallacies. This is also found to be much. It is not obvious for one to make mistakes while he or she is reasoning nor making some logical fallacies in simplest geometry that he or she can handle.
Furthermore, the surprising thing about this author is that he says that he can attain perfection without any external forces or influence. This is much surprising since it is obviously known that an individual is able to attain perfection through a series of learning and training (Descartes, 2005). He even says that he would have had all the perfections that he had been able to discover from God. In this sense, the author is trying to imply that he does not necessarily need God’s grace so that he can attain perfection. He believes that he is able to attain perfection all by himself without Gods’ grace or influence from the other people.
He was trying to convince me successfully in his way of thinking by using various illustrations from the book. He tries to confuse one so as to deviate from what he or she knows so that he is able to control his mind. When the author talks about one’s state of mind when he or she is asleep being similar to when that individual’s state of mind is when he is awake. This might be much confusing since an individual may not tell his or her state of mind when he is asleep and also be able to compare with it when he is awake (Descartes, 2005). Therefore, in this sense, the author is trying to convince the reader successfully by using some difficult examples that an individual might not comprehend or be able to put them into his or her real life.
Furthermore, the author is trying to convince the reader by telling the reader that it does not necessarily mean that all our ideas and concepts that we have acquired are always true. He says that one can learn something or believe in something that is false and thus live to believe in false things. By saying so, the author is directly telling the reader that what he is saying might also be true and that what the reader knows might be false. In this way, the author is trying to convince the reader successfully that whatever he is saying is true to the best of his knowledge (Descartes, 2005). By saying this, some readers who may doubt what they know or rather what they think is right may end up believing in him and thus being successfully convinced.

Reference

Descartes, R. (2005). Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting one’s Reason and Seeking Truth in the Sciences (pp. 14-18). Jonathan Bennett.