Cartesian Skepticism!

I find this concept very interesting for the fact it makes people question the reality of their own knowledge/environment. Created by Rene Descartes, Cartesian Skepticism is a type of doubt relating to the justification of the world. He believed that we cannot justify our knowledge for the world, and your perceptions and the absolute that things around you are real. This is what caused him to create the famous "I think, therefore I am." conclusion/

The little crisis Descartes had was very interesting. The way he questioned his own thoughts with good reasoning enough to question my own knowledge of the universe. And even after all of that, he's able to come to a conclusion? Woah. 

 There's a viewpoint I've collected related to this kind of skepticism, here's one I've put:

"We are filled with cells that respond to stimulus. That means that we’re biologically programmed to feel, to choose, and that’s only the bodily functions. That means, that is not our personal choice, because that is the BODY’S work. Not ours.

Does that feel good? I bet not. How can you tell a robot it doesn’t have personal choices because they’re just programmed to make some, when we ourselves, are biologically stimulated to make personal choices and not because we have free will?

The truth is, we do not completely know if we are connected to our body. Sure, we may be aware of which container we are in, or can visually/feel as if we are outside our body. Or maybe you practice the “pinch and I wake up” trick. Pinching your shoulder, and if there’s pain, you’re definitely connected! Your body may send stimulus signals and bodily responses to certain things, but those are processed from biochemicals. And you know easily they can be hijacked, especially without protection. Like viruses, diseases and some disorders, they can affect your perception of time, mentality, perception of consciousness, and can even have the power to separate the soul away from the body. And sometimes you won’t even know when it’s happening.

Visual and auditory perceptions are not always objective. Such as people taking drugs: Hallucinations can seem so vivid, so real. That it tricks you into believing that it is, but it is not. That is the subjectiveness of the perceptions. Using that logic, we can also conclude that we have no idea that anything around us is real. So really, biochemicals are not a trustworthy source to believe if you are really inside your own container."

One of the little things I've collected is the doubt of our perceptions. Visual, auditory, stimulus... it could be deceiving us, for all we know. Perceptions aren't always objective. 

This spiral of questioning our own perceptions also leads to the doubt of our own, or others existence. We may believe we aren't real, or we believe we are the only real person, while others are just in our mind. This is another belief called Solipsism.

Another doubt I've seen is our knowledge of the universe and the Earth. We, as humans, make mistakes. Our own reasoning, despite using some mathematical equations, cannot be completely objective. For all we know, all the math we've been practicing could've been all one big nonsense spread across the world, something useless. That the facts we've presented around the world, really may not be facts. Even if some famous doctor or scientist claims it to be, how do you know if it's really true?

Because we are mainly subjective beings, we do not possess the full knowledge to justify our own conclusions. Which is a little scary. 

If we do not know things are true, how can we prove that they are?

If we do not know that things are real, how can we prove that they are?

It's a tough question to answer. Maybe there's an answer out there somewhere, out of our grasp, but there's not much of a definite answer to it.

But to install some hope into you: It's true that we don't have the absolute knowledge/justification of the conclusions we make. But who are you to believe that things around us may be fake? Sure, the possibility is certainly there.

You don't possess an objective justification either, because you yourself have the unfortunate fate of not being able to identify the real and the fakes. So in the present moment, you'll never know the outcome. But like you said, we are subjective beings. Our conclusions and thoughts aren't always justifiable. And if that's true, then how do you know if things are fake?

No matter how much you question it, if you don't know how to prove what's real, you won't know how to prove what's fake either. For all you know, you could think that everything around you is fake, when it's really real. 

And thus, the famous quote: I think, therefore I am. As long as your little soul keeps doing what it's doing, you are still alive, in some way. 

You still exist. If you aren't, how can we explain whatever we're doing right now? Whether you are in your body or not, you exist. You don't need a physical container to exist.

You are alive.