PHIL 1000 Study Guide - Firm Foundation, Thematic Relation
Document Summary
It is at least possible that everything my senses tell me is an illusion created by a powerful being. Therefore, there is some reason to doubt my foundation belief, and thus all my beliefs about the world are doubtful; none of them can serve as the foundation for science. Even if all of my experience is an illusion, it cannot be doubted that the experience is taking place. Therefore, i know with certainty that i am only a mind: i am much more certain of my mind"s existence than my body"s. It might seem that in fact we know physical things through the senses with greater certainty than we know something intangible like the mind. But the wax experiment demonstrates that the senses themselves know nothing, and that only the intellect truly knows physical things. It follows that the mind itself is known with greater certainty than anything that we know through the senses.
