Descartes in the Classroom

On page 12, Descartes begins with saying, “I was struck by the large numbers of falsehoods that I had accepted as true in my childhood, and by the highly doubtful nature of the whole edifice that I had subsequently based on them.” I believe that this statement hits close to home not only for me but many other people as well. For example, grade school taught many of us the same subject for many years, K-12; then by the time we get to college, our professors tell us to completely disregard what we have learned during those years in grade school, especially high school. Last semester I remember writing a paper for my English class, and my professor told me to forget the writing style I learned in high school because it is now completely useless in her class as well as in college because of the standards. Also, that was not the only time that a professor has told me something similar to that. Furthermore, the History taught in grade school could be considered as a glimmer of truth, and in college this “truth” is finally revealed. On page 12, Descartes says that, “[he] realized that it was necessary, once in the course of [his] life, to demolish everything completely and start again right from the foundations if [he] wanted to establish anything at all in the sciences that was stable and likely to last.” This statement definitely correlates with the examples that I have mentioned above. To further explain his theory in this statement, there is a question that needs to be asked. How is that we are able to gain truth other than what is told to us or perceived through our senses? What I have gathered so far is that truth can derive from nature. I figure that nature is pure in all its essence and substance therefore making it most connected to God because God is the pure incorruptible good that has created nature. (pg 14-15). In the end, truth can be found in nature because of its connection to God’s purity. Also, nature in and of itself is never changing…in a way.