Why did Descartes reach the conclusion that some ideas are innate? Give examples of ideas that he thought were innate.
Rene Descartes was a mathematician, philosopher and scientist. He was influential in the field of mathematics. He refused to trust his own senses and avoided emotional attachments with people.
According to him, physical sciences are uncertain and arithmetic and geometric studies are trustworthy. He says that science should be objective and free from biases and personal perception. His best-known philosophical statement is “Cogito, ergo sum”, which means “I think, therefore I am”.
Descartes decided that sensory information could be trusted and believe in the importance of doubting and questioning. He says that he will doubt on everything that could be doubted and to use whatever was certain.
He explained that when he doubts, he uses his mind by thinking about it. According to him, the only thing of which he could be certain was that he doubts and once he attains this certainty, he starts to process it.
He also analyzed few ideas that do not need any personal experiences and need to be accepted as true. He named this type of idea as ‘innate idea’. He explains that these ideas are natural components of mind and are perfect.
According to him, whatever he thinks, it exists. He concluded that he could not be the author of such ideas as he is not perfect. According to him, only perfect ones can discover perfect things.
He included few things in the innate ideas such as perfection, unity, infinity, axioms of geometry and God. Some of the examples of innate ideas given by Descartes are thing, truth and thought. Some of the other examples are as follows:
1. The existence of God
2. Sensory information means something people born with and not acquired through experiences
3. Truth about mathematics
4. Logical principles
5. Metaphysical principles