Epistemology and Descartes Essay

In both Platos Allegory of the Cave and Descartes The Fourth Meditation, they discuss equity what it is, where it comes from and how to divers(prenominal)iate it from falsehood and error. Platos paper is more than metaphorical and uses imagery to paint a picture of his idea of truth, while Descartes is more straight forward, and uses examples. These papers are written very differently scarcely are, at the same time, very similar when it comes to content. Although its not word for word, these two papers complement each other very well when it comes to define truth and explaining its origin.In Allegory of the Cave, Platos view is that our senses, such as sight, skew our understanding of true slamledge. We are, for all intense and purposes, chained at the cervix and ankles, unable to move. Our world is a cave lit by a fire disguised as the sun. We only see what is before us our shadows, our falsities and errors. However, on the rare occasion that we break free from our chains, we are able to experience true knowledge. We understand the world around us and realize what we once mind we knew isnt real. We view things in a new perspective, a new lightsunlight.This is what Plato believes truth is. The cave where men are chained is, essentially, a mask, covert Earths true identity. Once that mask is taken off, we know Earths true identity, we understand. One may relate being unshackled to an epiphany, or divine intervention. Its an experience of something so pure, so insightful you know it to be true. And once we have experienced this pure truth, we must outcome to the cave populated by shadows and lit with an artificial sun. We must do to this so we can share our true knowledge with others, so they too, may mavin day be unchained. In The Fourth Meditation, Descartes rationalizes deitys Will, and all of imperfections, through a series of questions and answers. In this paper, Descartes describes God as the source of goodness, truth and being. He is infinite. T he opposite of God, Descartes states, is nothingness. So, since we humans exist, Descartes explains we must be somewhere in between these two extremes. We are neither infinite, nor are we nothingness. We are finite, as God willed us to be. We consist of being and non-being. Andany imperfection we may have is not a result of our being, rather our non-beingour error, in other words. Descartes says that when we know we know something, we are 100 percent sure about it. We have no feelings against it. Its a sudden realization, an epiphany perhaps. And in this state, our judgments are certain and true. Descartes also dialogue about how we can not know anything certainly, without caseing at the whole picture. For example, scientists cannot expect to prove or disprove Gods existence by looking at specific, finite things in the universe.Or if people try to disprove God by saying there is evil in the world, they arent looking at the big picture. For, in the big picture, Descartes thinks the re would be an explanation, a purpose for evil. So even though Plato and Descartes give very different types of explanations about truth, and its origin, they come to similar conclusions. They both view truth as something beyond our ordinary senses. They both suggest taking a look at the bigger picture to find truth (being unchained/understanding Gods infinite being). And they both agree that, when the truth is know, it needs to be shared.