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Hana Alicic English 205 22 November 2010 Meditations with a Frog An overview of Descartes philosophies for young adults

It was a place empty in every way. There was no up or down, no soft or hard, no shadows or light, nowhere to sit down and nothing to stare at. Being there gave Mary the same feeling that came when she was diving deep underwater, so deep that almost no daylight came through and directions did not exist.

At first she thought that she was asleep. But this was unlike any dream. Where were the dragons and castles, the laughs and music? And there were none of the monsters that live in nightmares. Maybe, she thought, she was not sleeping at all and had woken up in another world. A very odd, very confusing world. At first she seemed to be the only thing hanging in the eerie place. But she could see a shape slowly moving far off in the emptiness. The form came closer much quicker than she had expected and soon she could make out its details.

It was a frog. A darkly colored frog jumping through the nothingness. Mary had little time to question what was going on before he turned and moved toward her.

Both in fear and surprise she called out What is this? Looking a bit shocked at the girls manners, the frog looked up and croaked. Mary remained in front of the animal, unimpressed. It continued. I am a frog. Mary suddenly did appear very surprised. This must be a dream! The frog seemed to smile smiled. True, it said, this is most likely a dream. But how could you ever know? Mary stared in confusion at the creature. What an odd question, coming from the oddest animal she had ever seen. You could not possibly be real because no frog could possibly talk or think like you are she answered. Yes, it is very unlikely that I am real. But how can you ever prove that I am not? it asked. Dreams certainly feel real. Are you not convinced that we are having a conversation now or that you are floating here? If there you dream about a fireplace, does it not make you feel warmer feel warmer?

As it said this, Mary could for the first time see light in the emptiness. It danced on the frogs wet skin. She felt the tingle of heat near her legs. When she turned, she saw a fire burning happily in its brick home.

Where did this come from! she excitedly asked. A very good question, the frog answered, but I could not answer it any better than you. Maybe an evil demon put it there. Maybe this demon makes up everything around us so the things we think exist do not really exist at all. That seems silly, Mary said. Demons are imaginary. And, besides, if I can see and feel something then it must be real. If it is not, then I cannot trust anything around me. But you can see and feel the world in your dreams too the frog responded so perhaps it is true that we cannot trust anything. How do we know that the world we think is real is not just another dream? We can never be sure that our five senses are telling us the truth. Or that this demon is not lying to our senses. I cannot say that I like that idea, not being able to trust anything around me an upset Mary answered.

But there is no other way to find what can be trusted. It would be hard to go through and prove every idea that you have wrong. It is much easier to say that they are all wrong, to say that I will not believe anything until I can prove it. It gives us a blank slate. Mary stood dumbfounded. She had never thought through the world around her in this way and felt worried by the idea that nothing could be believed. If everything is false, she asked herself, then how do I know that I am real? The frog interrupted her troubled thoughts. I do know one thing. I think. As it said this, a tree trunk emerged from the nearby ground, slowly crawling up toward the sky.

And from this, it is clear that I am. From the trunk behind it, a branch grew out, forming a strangely shaped tree. They turned to face it.

There is the one truth that I cannot prove wrong. I cannot prove that I have a body or that this tree is really here, but I know that I think, and that makes me real. Anything that I see or

feel or touch comes to me because I have a mind and can notice the world around me. My mind is the only part of me that I am sure of. Mary thought over this idea before answering. So by doubting that you are real, you first proved that you are real? Exactly the frog smiled I am a something that can ask what is real and what is not. I have doubts that my body truly exists, so I cannot be totally sure that it is real. But I cannot doubt that my mind exists because it is thinking. I am more real than the world around me. Well, that is better than thinking that nothing is true. But it is not much. I wish that I could trust that something besides just me is real. There is really no use to floating around in a world where I cannot be sure that anything I do is actually being done. Ah, what a frustrating life that would make! Our senses can be tricked, so we cannot use them to show what is true. But now we can use our mind and our reason to see if anything else does prove real. My reason makes proving that God is real a simple job. That does not seem like a question that could be answered simply, Mary interrupted, it seems like a very big question. But my reason can still show that it is true! Difficult as it is, I can say that I am imperfect the frog chuckled But I still have the idea of a perfect something. If I am not perfect but can still think of something that is, then the idea must come from the perfect thing itself. It must come from God. You hardly have proof of that! Daria said in frustration just because you have an idea does not make it true.

But my clear ideas are all that I can believe Descartes answered. The clearer something is to my mind, the most certain I am that it has to exist. And by showing that God is real, I open up the world. As he said this, Daria and Descartes found the murky space around them slowly melting. Gradually, the odd tree was surrounded by a grassy plain dotted with lakes. They for the first time stood on solid ground and had a true sky above them. A perfect God would not lie to us Descartes continued, so what we can sense must exist. There are some ideas that cannot be argued and that are part of the order of the world. Our reasoning will always show that 1 +1 =2. All humans have filled with the light of reason and can understand these truths. Objects can be proven true too. We can measure how long they are and how fast they move. These are clear to everyone. Any quality that depends on who is seeing the object cannot be proven to be true. I am not sure what you mean Daria asked how can I tell what is true about something then? If I have a piece of wax, I can see its color and size and shape. If I melt it, it is still wax but all of these things change. The only things that stay that same are the fact that the wax takes up space and can be changed. These things do not depend on senses. So everything we know still depends on our mind Daria though out loud but my mind is still connected to my body. If I touch a hot pan, it still hurts. Yes, yes, of course the mind and body are connected. They are knotted together but your reason can still be greater than your own body. We are not animals. True, we still eat and sleep and fight, but animals cannot do math or prove theories. The most important thing about us is that we are thinking things.

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