How Not to Build a Bridge Essay - 1726 Words

It is difficult for me to conceive of a thought with more frightening implications than that which leads me to contemplate whether every element of knowledge I assume could conceivably be uncertain in reality. Rene Descartes set out to do just that in one his most famous works, entitled Meditations of First Philosophy; having realized that the beliefs he employed on a daily basis were flawed, Descartes began pursuing a foundationalist framework of knowledge that would enable him to develop certainty from his beliefs. While I agree with Descartes’ notion that the belief of which I can be most certain is my own existence as a thinking thing, I hold that he puts far too much emphasis on his questionable arguments specifically related to the†¦show more content†¦To add to the difficulty of finding an idea that could constitute foundational knowledge, Descartes established the criterion of absolute certainty. He does this because he is looking for a foundation that cannot be doubted in any way, and thus, whether or not a belief is possibly doubtable became the determining question, completely disregarding the plausibility of that belief being false as a consideration. Without a doubt, this is a tall order. In Meditation I, Descartes shows just how difficult it was to find a belief that could meet the rigorous qualifications he set forth. For the sake of efficiency, he accepts the idea that he is unable to reject each and every belief that he has, and instead elects to target what he views are the three primary foundational beliefs (his knowledge of the material world, knowledge of the existence of the material world, and mathematical knowledge) on which his non-foundational beliefs are based. He first considers his knowledge of the material world, which is acquiredShow MoreRelatedHow Technology Has Changed The World Today1411 Words   |  6 Pagesresearch paper i will be talking about bridges and their importance to the world today. I will also go into detail on how bridges were in the past and how the first bridges were made by nature. I will compare bridges from the past to how technology has changed the way bridges are built today in the moder n era. The more we advance in technology the more ca-pabilities we have too make bridges that support so much more weight. 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