Phyberlie Anne B.

Molina 12 STEM – B
October 18, 2018 PHILOSOPHY

WHAT MAKES US HUMAN?

An analysis on the concept of Human Person according to Rene Descartes

Think about this: How sure are you that the person you love is really true? Yes, you talk, you see
each other, and you share moments but how can all these things guarantee that what you’re
experiencing and that who you spend your time with is actually real and not a mere product of your
dreams? Senses, uncertain, can deceive one to see a number as a six instead of a nine, can make you
hear “my love” instead of “unloved”, can make you smell a rose though it’s just blood, can make you
feel the hands of “the one” when there’s actually no one. Again, think with me. Think because thinking is
the only thing that can prove that you exist. And, for now, your existence is the only thing that can be
proven to be true. Whether you’re indeed with someone or without, you can only be sure that you have
yourself. Yet, as who you are, what makes the “self” human? What makes us human? In trying to come
up with a philosophical answer, let me do the honor of presenting to you the philosophy of Rene
Descartes.

In assessing the situation above, we used Descartes’ philosophical technique or idea called the
Cartesian Skepticism. This is the idea of doubting everything or disbelieving everything which is in the
case above, the person you love. This idea from Rene Descartes came from his desire to know what truly
exists and what is really real (Crash Course, 2016). In doing so, he opted to disbelieve everything he
believed in so he can analyze each information one by one and see which information turn out to be
wrong and which turned out to be irrefutable truths (Crash Course 2016). In a sense, he also made
himself more skeptical than the skeptics who like to attack and argue ideas (Philosophy Basics, n.d.).
Thus, in the case of figuring out human nature, Rene made it his starting point to doubt our existence.
But, we do have to admit that the question “What makes us human?” is a very broad and large topic to
tackle at once. That is why, with the use of Methodological Doubt (School of Life, 2015) , Rene divided
the topic into bits and parts to make it easier to analyze thus giving rise to the separation of mind and
body. This is Rene Descartes’ Mind-Body Dualism which stresses the distinction between the two for,
unlike St. Thomas, Rene Descartes claims that it is impossible for the mind and the body to be in a
substantial union with each other (Philosophy Pages, n.d.). Let’s discuss first about the body. Now, the
body is considered to be something material, something that extends to occupy geometrical space
(Philosophy Pages, n.d.) and it is through this material part of humans that gives them the ability of
sensation. And, for Rene, sensations are VERY doubtful sources of information (Crash Course, 2016).
Therefore, the body, along with the senses that it brings, is considered to be a no-no. It does not carry
any irrefutable truth nor is it an irrefutable truth thus it is then considered unreal. But in the middle of
thinking and reflecting and maybe, frustrating over the “unrealness” of things, Rene Descartes finally
had his THE GREAT AHA moment. This was when he realized that he can doubt everything except for the
fact that he was thinking. He could doubt everything except the existence of his thoughts. And thinking
can only be done if there is a thinker. Therefore, if he cannot doubt that he is thinking then he cannot
doubt that he exists. That is why, Rene Descartes coined the famous line “Cogito Ergo Sum” which
means “I think therefore I am.” (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d.). Having this great discovery in
mind, Rene was led to the idea that the human mind is real and is an irrefutable truth which is why,
according to Rene, this is what makes us human. Are you still thinking with me? If yes, then Rene
Descartes has some pretty good news for you. You exist.

Rene Descartes is a really amazing man. I mean imagine yourself in a time filled with Aristotlian
ideas and one day, you just decided to say “Nah, none of these are real.” He didn’t say that accurately
but the fact that he refused to embrace the philosophical ideas and even the authority of the prominent
philosophers of his time (Philosophy Basics, n.d.) really makes him such a rebel - a philosophical rebel
and an explorer who later discovered one of the greatest philosophical statements ever made: Cogito
Ergo Sum (Crash Course, 2016). It’s such a brief statement but it makes so much sense in its attempt to
prove human existence since, disregarding all other physical attributes and factors, humanity’s ability to
think is really a vital part of what makes one a human. But, although I agree and honestly look up to this
idea, I do disagree on Rene’s thoughts about the human body. The mind, indeed, is truly important but I
believe that the body is equally important as well. Truly, our senses which came from the body may lead
to misconceptions and errors but that doesn’t mean that our bodily existence should be totally ruled
out. After all,
“He [Rene Descartes] imagined an evil spirit (or "deceiving demon") whose sole intention was
to mislead him.” (Philosophy Basics, n.d.)
The evil spirit mentioned in the quoted statements performs the deception to the human mind thereby
causing the person to think of false thoughts. Now, Rene justified that false thoughts are still thoughts
done by a thinker thus, no such deception will ever deny one’s existence. My argument though is that if
the mind can think of false thoughts but can still prove the existence of a person then why is the body
restricted from feeling false sensations (Masamong 2018) even though these false sensations or feelings
cannot deny the fact that the person still feels. Why must sensations or feelings be invalidated when
these, too, are what makes us humans (Kiyosaki, 1997)? Aside from that, false sensations may not
entirely be false since if we look at it from another perspective, these feelings or moments can be truths
subjective to the person (Graves, 2015). In addition, according to Rodney Masamong (2018), under the
methodic doubt, Rene Descartes said “It would be wise to consider everything that is delivered by the
senses as false.” Yet, we can never deny that some of the things that our senses deliver is true. Is it then
righteous to consider even the truth as false merely because some of what we feel are false? Should we
then forget and disregard truth merely because of the presence of what’s untrue? I think not. Using one
of the processes of Rene in performing the methodic doubt, he said that in order to analyze something,
one must divide it by parts and see which is true and which is not. This I believe should also apply in
analyzing sensations – to not generalize the whole thing but instead to closely study each and see which
is “truly false” and which is right. Because we cannot fully recognize collective truth if we compromise
some of its individual truths. In the same way, we cannot fully recognize our collective truth as humans
if some of our true parts are being sacrificed along with what’s false. Because it is fallacy to generalize
for the whole merely because of some of its parts or sample (Logically Fallacious, 2011)

Think, again, with me: I am sure that the people I love are really true because, yes, we talk, we
see each other and we share moments and all these things guarantee that what I’m experiencing and
that who I spend my time with is actually real and not just mere products of my dreams. Senses,
certainly, are used in our every interaction. It can make one see beauty when it’s hidden, can make one
hear words that can save, can make one smell care among the flowers, and can make one feel love in
every embrace. Again, think with me. Think because thinking, along with feeling sensations, can prove
that you truly exist. And, for now and beyond, your existence is one of the things that can prove that the
people who are loved are true and that the love is true. Therefore, think and feel for these are the things
that makes us human.
Resources:
https://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_descartes.html;https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/100/Hasty-Generalization;
http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/4d.htm;
https://www.iep.utm.edu/descarte/#SH4a;https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/100/Hasty-Generalization;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLKrmw906TM; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAjWUrwvxs4