Descartes and the "pinch test"

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Ohoonobl

Humanities

Description

Descartes believed that information gleaned from the senses could be very unreliable, and since dreams depend upon sensory information, their trustworthiness becomes even more suspect as they mimic the things that we actually do and feel/experience while awake. That is part of the reason that he has serious doubts about what we call the Pinch Test. Many websites suggest that there are two possibilities for Descartes’ “Pinch Test.” Although various websites phrase them a bit differently, the choices they propose are:

(1) If I'm dreaming and someone in the dream pinches me, I will wake up.

(2) If I am awake and think I might be dreaming and someone pinches me, I'll be able to tell whether I'm dreaming or not.

But, Descartes has considered both of the above possibilities and rejects them equally in his Meditations. In fact, he concludes that: (Descartes) If I am dreaming and someone pinches me, I will not wake up but dream that I felt the pain and dream that I woke up—but, I will still be asleep and still be dreaming.

Granted, this sounds a lot like what is going on with the people still connected as energy generators in “The Matrix” movies, which is not too surprising since the guys who wrote those movies actually studied Philosophy. The people still connected to the matrix are dreaming that they are awake; thus, when they are dreaming that they are awake and experiencing sensations (like being pinched), they are actually still dreaming.

So, here comes your real challenge.

If you cannot trust your senses when you are awake (since they often lie to you and give you bad information, like telling you a favorite food tastes “weird” when you are sick, or that a road is wet on a hot day when it is actually an optical mirage, or even that you might have a “phantom pain” in a limb after it has already been surgically removed), what sort of knowledge can you know with certainty is true, whether you are awake or dreaming? For help, look at Descartes’ reasoning for the “Cogito ergo sum” (“I think; therefore, I am”), and try to figure out why Descartes was so positive that this was the first thing that he could know was true without any doubts. Explain why this was the first thing he could know was true with absolute certainty.

Then, tell us something that you know is true with the same sort of undoubtable certainty.

After that, answer these questions:

o How did you reach the conclusion that it was true and could not be doubted?

o Was there a process or method like Descartes used to prove it was undoubtable, and what was it?

o How could you convince other people that it is true and they cannot doubt it either?

o Finally, what would have to happen in order for you to doubt the truth of this thing in the future?

Make sure each answer is at the very least 200 words long.

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Explanation & Answer

hey, see the attached

Running head: DESCARTES AND THE “PINCH TEST”

Descartes and the "Pinch Test"
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DESCARTES AND THE “PINCH TEST”

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Descartes and the “Pinch Test”
a) How did you conclude that it was true and could not be doubted?
It is evident that information that is often gleaned from senses could not always be reliable in
that dreams usually depend on upon sensory information. The level of trustworthiness, therefore,
becomes greatly suspect as the dreams tend to mimic the many things that a lot of people feel as
well as experience while awake. As far as the pinch test is concerned, it is only right to conclude
that if one is dreaming and someone most probably in the dream pinches him, they will not
necessarily wake up but will in that case dream they felt the pain (Ren, et.al 2014). Additionally,
in the case one is awake, and another person happens to pinch them, then it will be very easy to
know that that is not a dream and that the pinching came about in reality. The pinching act may
be defined as the act of griping a flexible object in a portion of the human skin is taken between
two fingers and is likely to cause pain to the subject. The action commonly consists of the
thumb, and other fingers and its strength may be measured by the closeness of the other finger to
the thumb.
b) Was there a process or method like Descartes used to prove it was beyond doubt,
and what was it?
There exist some methods and acts that Descartes used to prove his dream argument as well
as the reasons as to why we should not trust any particular test that seeks to differentiate
dreaming from being awake. He argued that if one pinches himself hard while awake he is bound
to feel a sharp stab of pain and this translates to easily knowing that you are not sleeping or even
dreaming as one may think. With the above example of the process used in conducting a pinch
test, Descartes was able to completely prove beyond any reasonable doubt that if a person is

DESCARTES AND THE “PINCH TEST”

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dreaming and he or she happens to be pinched whether gently or strongly, there is the likelihood
that he or she will wake up (Woo, & Mun, 2017). This is op...


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