question, depending on a particular philosopher's views on the subject. Often times an answer is

left undetermined. In the broad sense of the word and also stated in the dictionary philosophy can

be described as the pursuit of human knowledge and human values. There are many different

people with many different theories of knowledge. Two of these people, also philosophers, in

which this paper will go into depth about are Descartes and Plato. Descartes' Meditations on

First Philosophy and Plato's The Republic are the topics that are going to be discussed in this

paper. In Meditations, Descartes brings doubt to everything he believes because it is human

nature to believe that which is false. He states that most of what he believes comes from the

senses and that a lot of times those senses can be deceived. His conclusion of doubting

everything is based on his example of a basket of apples. It goes as follows; you have a basket of

apples but you fear that some apples have gone bad and you don't want them to rot the others, so

you throw all the apples out of the basket. Now that the basket is empty you examine each apple

exists. To have an the idea of God than we have the understanding of the infinite. We cannot

intellectual world. Once the prisoners adjust they are able to see the objects for what they really

ways different. According to Plato we see shadows and not the real objects. To be a philosopher

through sense-perception. In his third meditation Descartes discusses the topic of God. Me makes

known as wax. In order to understand what wax is you must be able to know it in all its forms

that he exists is that in order to be deceived one must be able to exist. Descartes states in his

rebuilds his foundation of knowledge with himself as the base. Plato is not looking to cast doubts

by understanding the idea of the object. Socrates is the main character in Plato's work and

Some common words found in the essay are:
Meditations Descartes, Allegory Cave, Plato Descartes, , Unlike Descartes, According Descartes, Republic Plato, God God, Plato's Socrates, According Plato, idea god, intellectual world, god cause idea, cause idea, piece wax, god cause, section soul, unlike descartes, god exists, shadows real, one's self,
Approximate Word count = 1505
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)