Descartes

Descartes

OPPOSING DESCARTES: PROVING THE EXISTENCE OF HANDS

Do I have hands? This question seems to follow with: do I have a body? If I do, then how do I know that I have them? It is my belief that I indeed do have hands (two to be exact), the very ones I am using to type. To best argue my point I will refute the argument made by Descartes in Meditation I, that I may only be dreaming and do not know for sure that I have hands. Once I have shown reason to doubt Descartes' dreaming idea, I will show that I can know that I have hands.

Descartes says that on many occasions he has been deceived by illusions in his sleep; he believed himself to be awake and found that he was merely in a dream state. Because of this, he claims, there are no distinguishing marks for when we are asleep and when we are awake; that we cannot know at any moment if we are truly awake