"You know that you are reading this book". Is this assertion correct

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Adam Pearson-Davies

“You know that you are reading this book.” Is this assertion correct?

  The statement “you know that you are reading this book,” has to be based on the premise that we can actually know anything as all. That, in turn, leads to questioning where we get our knowledge from in the first place.

  Furthermore, even if one was to find an answer, could it be proven sufficiently beyond doubt, to be verified as a true answer? These are two of the points put forward by René Descartes.

  Many Philosophers, from different viewpoints, have presented ideas which they used to answer similar questions; and by virtue of this, can also hope to answer this question.

  René Descartes came to the conclusion that the only thing that we can definitely be certain of is the fact that we, or rather I, exist. That is, because Descartes came to believe that in order to think, something must have to exist consciously, in the first place. As a result, as he thinks he must exist, so he can be certain that he knows that he exists. Hence his phrase, ‘I think, therefore I am.’  

  However, this brings us brings us back to the first point, “you know that you are reading this book”. The problem, it could be argued with Descartes’ answer, that he can be certain of his existence, only, because he thinks; is that it cannot be applied to outside objects or rather the external world. In other words, because you cannot tell if a person, is thinking, and not just talking, you cannot know if they exist. The same goes for all other objects.

  The evidence for the existence of the external world falls far short of what is needed, if Descartes’ ‘I think, therefore I am,’ is to be taken as the only premise for true existence.

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  This concept is furthered by Descartes’ idea of the malicious Demon. Although we, or I, must exist (we know this from ‘I think therefore I am), we do not according to Descartes, really know that the world around us exists. It may just be the work of a malicious demon. Or, it may be the modern day equivalent. We may just be Brains in vats. We just don’t know. This is the view of the Sceptic.

  Even though it does, at first, look as though the sceptic is the only person who can be right, G. E. Moore, ...

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