In a world where values create the rule of life, the truth rarely takes precedence in priority of importance. This does not change the thirst for truth that every person possesses or the need for truth in order to have peace of mind. Descartes and Plato are two philosophers who both knew truth was out there, but chose entirely different ways to approach it. Descartes puts forth a procedure to discover the truth of existence. Plato's method, on the other hand, suggests a method of transformation and some sort of dying in order to find truth. The difference of approach to truth separates Plato and Descartes.

For Descartes, in order for truth to exist, God has to exist, so he sets out to logically prove God's existence. His first step to prove the existence of God is to doubt everything. By doubting away everything, he can find the one thing that can not be doubted. The first thing to consider is his existence. He questions if he really exists as he realizes that it did not matter if God or even truth exists, if he did not exist at all. Descartes quickly realizes that the fact that he questions his existence, he has to exist, hence his famous quote "ego cogito."

its beams so that he would not be able to see even one of the things that we call

I shall force my way up, and try once more to carry out the project which I started

extension, movement and place are illusions! So what remains true? (Descartes

When comparing Descartes' ways to obtaining knowledge of truth with Plato's, one can see the difference of effect it has on the individual. Descartes could know the truth and at the same time never experience it. However, Plato says to know truth is not a process by which one can merely observe, but it forces the person to take part in life instead of simply observing it.

Plato begins this story by describing the prisoners of the cave. They face the wall of shadows, they know nothing but what they see and they can only conjecture and imagine what the shadows really are. Then they were empowered to break their bonds and turn around to see the particular things that cast the shadows. Now they can see that there are animate and inanimate objects that populate the cave but they cast their trust on sensory perceptions and believe what they see in reality.

Now he has established a God who is good and perfect, far from an evil genius, who would never try to steer him from the truth. But his goal is to know the truth and Descartes meditates on his idea that if everything he got was from God, and God gave no faculty for making mistakes, it seems incapable of ever erring. As long as one focuses attention exclusively on God, there will be no cause of error or falsity. Hence, a person can know the truth through the faculties given to him/her by God.

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Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)