Descartes Has His Mind Made Up
Although Descartes is known for many great things from being a prominent figure in the Scientific Revolution to creating the Cartesian Coordinate System in mathematics, what I remember him for best is being the most stubborn and self-satisfied philosopher that I have recently read. I recognize that Descartes is taking his readers on a journey through his thinking and its development and that he admits that “I have never supposed that my mind is above the ordinary” (4); however, the way that he discusses this epistemological journey or his quest for real knowledge makes me think that he has his mind made up and that he would especially appreciate this particular Dylan song.
After Descartes went through years of traditional schooling, he decided that he wasn’t learning anything of real value from school so he “resolved to seek no other knowledge than that which I(he) might find within myself (himself)” (8). Although he appreciates that great minds have been involved in the institution of schooling over the years, he still critiques those who are continuing the tradition.
With regards to the long educational philosophy, Descartes reveals “I will say nothing of philosophy except that it has been studied for many centuries by the most outstanding minds without having produced anything which is not in dispute and consequently doubtful and uncertain. I did not have enough presumption to hope to succeed better than the others; and when I noticed how many different opinions learned men may hold on the same subject, despite the fact that no more than one of them can ever be right, I resolved to consider almost as false any opinion which was merely plausible” (8). In other words, even if the knowledge is coming from “the most outstanding minds,” he still believes that there’s nothing that they could say or do to make him think that he’s wrong because he has been thinking on his own and in this thing for way too long. Nobody is able to convince him of anything other than what he already thinks because “whether asleep or awake, we should never allow ourselves to be convinced except on the evidence of our own reason” (30).
This recurrent theme of being convinced only by his own reason throughout Descartes’ Discourse on Method and Meditations seems to echo the end of Dylan’s song where he repeats his stubborn mantra: Got my mind made up five times to close the song. This repeated verse at the close of Dylan’s song not only reminds me of a tantrum-throwing child with his hands over his ears as refusal to listen, but it also reminds me of Descartes’ assertion that he must block out the voices of other opinions in order to get at knowledge or real truth itself. Both men may be revealing their stubborn nature through their language, but that stubbornness may, in all actuality, be necessary for them to learn for themselves and be who they are because cogito ergo sum.
Descartes, Rene. Discourse on Method and Meditations. Trans. Laurence J. LaFleur. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1960.