Can We Be Certain of Anything? (Descartes) - 8-Bit Philosophy
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
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Press Start for “Can We Be Certain of Anything?“ by 8-Bit Philosophy, where classic video games introduce famous thinkers, problems, and concepts with quotes, teachings, and more.
Episode 4: Can We Be Certain of Anything? (Descartes & Cartesian Doubt)
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I love the paradox of saying ''we can never be certain of anything'' we are even uncertain of that statement
1and that statement and mebay that statemant and mebay that statement and mebay not that statement and mebay that statement
go back again to 1
good use of Kefka's laugh. Although I was expecting it in Kafka
I was too, actually.
Kefka laugh is 16 bit. I call bullshit on this charade.
word.
Paul Bujold It is, but I chose not to split hairs.
Kefka is the dude
Oh, thank you! I have been repeating myself so many times in various comment sections trying to explain one concept or another to people who think they know everything I've started to save my arguments in a word file. Now, I can just direct them to this wonderfull series (or some episode in particular) which is so wonderfully and succinctly explained. For me, the best thing on RUclips.
We can be certain of our uncertainty
but.. can we..?
I'm not sure...
woah...
the mind fucking is real........unless its not
Are you sure about that?
I must say, these are very fun! Keep it up!
My philosophy exam is making me find all these amazing channels
These videos helped me alot in college in trying to understand the world. I was talking to my kiddos about comics and in that conversation I realized that the (kinda new) superhero Gwenpool is a rebuttal to Descartes. It was just really nice to help keep my kiddos grounded when you come infer the realization that the world might not be real.
"Truth is, we may never be certain of anything."
Well, is that certain? lol
Mark Joshua Miguel Or not!
A transcendental argument against those types of claims. Good job
That's why he added " may ".
If he would have said " I am certain that we can never be certain of anything ".
Then it becomes contradictory due to self reference as in first he is saying I am certain then he is saying I am not certain of anything.
But we can't hold an argument against him just because he used the word " may ". We can use many other words too " I think , I believe , etc ". But we can't use I am sure , I am certain , etc.
So your question was : well , is that certain ?
No it's not certain.
And you may still hold the same counter argument against me.
Well , is that certain ? But the answer is still no.
Everything I am writing is because I believe it's true. I don't know for certain.
Please reply if you read this.
@@anuragnathyal5889 You're right he said may, Mark Joshua Miguel is just strawmanning him saying that he was saying he was certain we can't be certain of anything. He said "May," meaning he's agnostic. Not gnostic, Agnostic. This just means he doesn't believe in anything; you have the burden of proof when you say you have knowledge about anything.
@@dillo1594 Instead of saying I am not certain of anything I say "I ASSUME , I AM NOT CERTAIN OF ANYTHING.
Just putting " I assume " infront of anything keeps me away from giving proof of it's certainty.
I assume I am replying to DILLO159
On the other hand
If I would have said I am certain that I am replying to DILLO159 then I couldn't have been able to prove it for certain. 😂
"How Can Mirrors Be Real If Our Eyes Aren't Real?"
DA fuq
Phonzo Cisne Jadon-Smith/10
***** How can andy sixx's log of shit be real if I haven't tasted it in my tiny little innocent 12 year old mouth?
***** I can't even imagine how hard it would be to conceive the idea of a mirror for someone who has never seen before.
Unstable Code Scarlet By simply looking at your hand, looking at a reflection of your hand, and comparing them. But in this equation, you have no sight to see anything, therefore, mirrors aren't real.
My favorite series on youtube, and for me the only reason youtube exists. PLEASE keep these coming!
I love how most of these are just my shower thoughts but with more fancy words
8-Bit Philosophy is quickly becoming one of my favourite RUclips series. It would be good if it did have its own channel. I love my Thug Notes but they are just too different in terms of their content and this series has a lot of potential to take off as something huge.
Can we be certain of anything?
Is Dracula ever truly defeated?
And by defeating dracula, do we then become him?
sakilaris
Some philosophers have posit that by defeating Dracula you would end up with a white hair protagonist whoses game serie could use more installement.
you only perceive him as defeated
No, because if I reset the game he's fine again
Woah. Absolutely LOVE this series.
"I AM ERROR" was a great reference drop.
You'd still have to exist for Mr. Evil Genius to trick you, even if he was trying to deceive you with the whole "I think, therefore I am," thing. Right?
Boomeus exactly
+Boomeus The real counterpoint comes from people like Unamuno, Kierkegaard, as well as the psychoanalysts (and even Kant, to an extent). In different ways, they take apart the idea that "you" are any kind of unified thing at all, instead of focusing on "existence" as the problem. The psychoanalysts do this by discussing the subconscious, which splits the mind as a Cartesian cogito. Neuroscientists have added to this at a more mechanical level in considering ways in which consciousness and awareness of self can be taken apart, dislocated, split, and fiddled with. There are perceptions manifesting in some fashion, at some moment in time for "you", but you still couldn't validate that you are a single entity, and couldn't confirm that the "you" of this moment is the same "you" of a previous moment with a different memory configuration (which gets into the problem of free will).
This isn't resolvable without some recourse to some deity or another (which was Descartes real way out of the problem), but if everything can be doubted plausibly in so many ways, then humility and recognition of the limitation of our means of comprehending any particular thing become a practical takeaway. Either that or a flight to faith to escape the anxiety of it all (Kierkegaard's way out).
+Boomeus maybe the evil genius is trying to trick himself into thinking that you exist, that we exist.
+Boomeus Descartes never actually believed in Evil Genius' existence. It's just a tool he used, an extreme possibility. It's not "There's an evil genius who tries to tricks me! But there's God, so the Mr. Evil Genius can't do anything!", it's "Let's suppose there's no external reality. Also, let's suppose there's an evil genius. So I can't be sure of anything, but I doubt, so I think therefore I am and I have the idea of God inside my mind, so God exist. My initial supposition (no external reality, Evil Genius) are therefore false".
Lots of people thought Descartes actually meant the existence of an Evil Genius and even tried to accuse him of heresy.
Feffe Levin Evil Genius could be Gods alter ego. Descartes suppositions that if God exists then he must be good and loving, could be entirely wrong and God is merely playing with us. Ultimately, TRUTH is what YOU believe it to be, for the TRUTH of others will ALWAYS be wrong, unless they believe as you DO ! Namaste my friends. William
I love the 8 bit philosophy, but would love a separate channel for them even more. I think it could give you more total subscribers, views, and publicity in general. It would also please my OCD.
Anyways, I'll support Thug Notes no matter what.
(Insert joke about not putting Descartes before De horse here)
By launching it through Thug Notes, they already have TN's existing subscribers and I'd assume most of their viewers too. If they launched independent, I'm sure these videos won't be getting the views they are getting since they would be starting from scratch, so to speak.
I agree that it was smart to do so. It just feels strange.
ironically enough, I came upon thug notes because of 8 bit philosophy, all I can say is great job on making knowledge more accessible
Carlos Luque fh
Patricia Maduro fh?
What a great series, keep it coming Thug Notes
These vids always blow my mind away
These are too good! Keep them comming!
Nothing like a youtube video to get me to doubt my existence
Really liking the new vids guys, keep it up!
Wish they would've went into what Descartes could've missed.
Makes sense to me. Even if I'm not typing right now, if I'm hooked up to a machine that's pumping sensations into my brain, there would still be something there that's being deceived.
Even if I don't actually have a "brain" there's still thought.
The "problem" is that you're thinking it through from a logical standpoint. Imagine if logic itself was something the demon taught you and there is actually no such thing as logic. As a consequence you can't deduce anything with reason. The fact that you can think despite not existing doesn't make sense but neither does a world without logic, so if logic is inherently flawed that may very well be the case.
It's a very abstract concept that shows that you always are thinking within a system and you have to realise that the system is man made and could be flawed.
While other knowledge could be a figment of imagination, deception or mistake, the very act of doubting one's own existence arguably serves as proof of the reality of one's own existence, or at least of one's thought.
"I think therefor I am... I think.."
-George Carlin
When did George Carlin say this?
@@nsj9509 when he meet your mother..
@@jesuschrist1280 Why did you say that lmao?
I just asked him where George carlin said that because I'm seriously wondering.
@@nsj9509 i am just joking around.
@@jesuschrist1280 🤣🤦♂️ I guess you don't text that often huh?
I saw this in GK Chesterton's book "Orthodoxy," but I don't remember going on about the evil genius bit. I did think this a great deal when I was younger, such as "How do I know I'm not a character in a book?" Which is why I love this subject, because it allows me to continue asking the "silly questions" of my childhood.
The Kefka laugh makes this perfect
Very well made video. It made me finally understand what I feel like.
This concept had bothered me so much. This is why I FEEL at least that it's impossible to know OR believe ANYTHING!
I love these 8-bit philosophy vids!
That was soooo good please never stop
Whether or not an evil genius is convincing him that doubting existence makes him real, he must exist.
These are so incredibly brilliant. Bravo!!!
These videos are awesome! I teach high school and I showed my kids the Descartes video when teaching about the scientific revolution.
Your voice is calm and good!
A video discussing the three basal assumptions would be a good addition. Especially when discussing Descartes.
Awesome take on Descartes philosophy...
Did I press "like", or was it a dream? or yet, some evil genius in diabolical amusement dreaming me up, a dupe, to think I have free will!
Love it. keep it up y'all!
Your channel is brilliantly creative! T
I can really dig this kind of thought process. As a person with a mental illness, I find it very hard to take Anything at face-value, and find it disturbing when so called "sane" people don't take the time to question things I find to be obviously fallible, and when it's too late, they wonder what went wrong. I'm wondering if this is a fault with critical thinking skills, as well as general comprehension levels. People, in general, either have trouble, or don't wish to put the effort into putting the pieces together themselves, and will in-trust it to literally anyone else; TV, politicians, preachers, etc, etc. I never could understand such behavior, and find it odd, that I'm the one classified mentally ill. Then again, this is just one loon's opinion, so take that for what it's worth.
Evil genius = creepy as hell
Love this series. Keep it coming! How bout some Schiller?
really amusing video. It manages to explain complex thoughts in a simple way. Congratulations
This is what I needed.
I love this series
Keep up the good work gentlemen!
i really miss this series
I really love these videos
CASTLEVANIA! I'm late to the party, but I love this video! Thank you so much for making this fun and educational. Keep up the good work.
Love this channel bit by bit ^^
Descartes was the best Castlevania character by far. Really the alucard or soma cruz of philosophers
How can we be certain that we can never be certain...
Descartes was not a skeptic
We cannot even be certain about not being certain. In fact, we cannot even be certain about not being certain about not being certain...
This is like Welcome to Night Vale summarized in three minutes.
Very cool, as always!
Sick video mate! But Descartes also overlooked the fact that all of our thoughts come spontaneously into our minds. For example think of any animal....maybe you thought of a pygmy hippopotamus. You may think you thought of this but for that to be true you must have consciously had a list of al of the animals in front of you to be able to choose that animal. When really that specific animal came out of no where and appeared under the light of your consciousness giving you the illusion that you selected it yourself. So considering this I guess it would be more accurate to say: Consciousness, therefore I am.
I love how I have the exact same thoughts of most of the philosophers named in 8-bit philosophy, even though I never actually studied their work
"... the answer is don't think about it."
-Rick Sanchez
Shoehorns going thru me that I can't insert in a good way but someone else might be able to. I was inspired by a part in a preview issue of "Action comics" on Descartes.
-the principle of sufficient reason
-While it's poosible to have been created by a cause (c) equal to one's self (s),that finite,fallible cause would have an idea of the infinite perfect as well,which must been implanted by an infinitely perfect source
[ Now who would *ever* consider something as malevolent as an evil genius to be * infinitely* perfect;which I'd suggested would implicately mean not destructive,deceptive etc and generally not being into contradicting or negating reality into unfavorable things]
-One dissembles only to protect vulnerabilities which a perfect being would not have
[`_`makes me think of the saying "those who love to be fear,feared to be loved"
-and how once you "step outside" of the good vs. evil mentality you see that they are within a larger ring of life,existence..and in the greatest sense it is good that affirms more to life than an infinite envelopment of unfavorable,evil,negation that's ultimately contradicting to the more encompassing scope of life
]
A lotta Descartes stuff doesn't mesh well with modern neurosci `_` .Also,even if he was the guy who invented the Cartesian plane and (x,y) co-ordinates so many of us are familiar with,I don't doubt that his idea of perception coming inherently from within is without logical flaws.
you tell me: "we may never be certain of anything"
I ask you: "are you certain of that?"
Damn you Kefka!
Love 8-bit philosophy
Francis Bacon once said that knowledge is power, so if we combine Descartes' philosophy with that statement, humans are powerless. Makes sense to me.
Charles Sanders Peirce destroyed Cartesian doubt in "Some Consequence of the Four Incapacities." There is no reasonable foundation for absolute or feigned skepticism.
I approve of the kefka laugh
Correct me if I am incorrect in my correction:
Descartes concluded that we are not in fact in a 'dream state', for unless we are dreaming while dreaming, in the 'dream state' we experience we are unable to account for large parts of our memory, but while 'awake' (?) our recent memory tends to succeed us.
Wow I love the presentation using 8 bit games
These videos are fantastic! A great introduction to motivate lazy/busy people like me! (physics takes a lot of time...)
2:17 No, because to be deceived, it must first exist in the form of deceptive thought. You cannot violate this logical circle of self-evidence.
The fact that I think is true by virtue of the fact that I think; only if I stop thinking could it be false, but if I stop thinking then I do not exist and therefore I cannot be deceived.
To deceive myself I have to think. The evil genius cannot deceive someone into thinking, when in reality he does not think the subjective and automatic experience proves the presence of the thought, only the subject knows it and knows that it is undoubtedly true as autonomous from the outside, and the zombie problem confirms this: the zombie will never be able to prove to himself the cogito as true, if I can think yes and I can, ergo not just a zombie, ergo I think, ergo I am not deceived on this fact.
Double thumbs up for Kefka laugh.
아 사랑합니다... 윤리와 사상 수업 발표로 데카르트 자료 찾는데 너무 없어서 죽을 것 같았어요... 마치 똥 싸다 휴지가 부족한 걸 보고 소름 돋았지만 수건 칸에 있는 휴지를 발견한 느낌 ♡♡♡♡♡
best videos ever
what the fuck was that ending? if there is an evil genius telling me anything then therefore i must exist in order for him to extend his influence over me at all. yes, we can be certain of our own existence, though nothing else.
+SP9433TheLegend Agreed, the ending wasn't very good. Also, can we ever prove that we do not think during our sleep ? Otherwise, this could be our reality, matrix-style.
The ending is based on the thought that logic itself may be not real, just something the demon is telling you is real. If that would be the case, you couldn't logically deduce any certainty by definition, including your own existance.
That's why scepticism can never be disproven: You're always thinking within a system. If that system however is fundamentally flawed, any conclusion within that system is also flawed.
One can determine many things through a gloved hand.
I 've had a philosophical concept on me since I was around 8ish. Someone said to me, "You're lucky to have been born on this planet, in this country."
I think their point was the last part, however I thought about the first bit.
You cannot be unlucky if you were not born on Earth, because you don't exist. (to my knowledge at the time, only one planet had life)
If there was a coin toss and you either won and knew you won or lost and didn't know the coin toss happened, was the coin toss relevant?
Was I truly "lucky" to be on Earth, or is my consciousness letting me know that my existence on Earth is just a given?
It's kind of like thinking about consciousness after death. It's a hard concept to grasp for a lot of people. A lot of people challenge the idea of complete nothingness after death, because they wouldn't like it, however, they wouldn't have even had the option of not liking it, as they are dead. Like if someone stole your money while you were alive, vs while you were dead. You wouldn't care, as you weren't even aware of it
The best way to get people into philosophy: 2 minute videos with flashy animations. I see way too many 2 hour long, excellent discussions with only a thousand view or less.
I don't get it, if he doesn't exist then who exactly is the evil genius fooling?
Well. You can be certain that you experience. How can that not be true?
"I experience, therefore I am."
But experience is, ultimately, a form of thought anyway. I can't experience "experience" in another way except as a mental process. So, you're back to the same statement.
How do you know you experience anything? What is it that tells you that an experience is taking place at all?
Firstly Lasty Depends how you're defining "experience" really. I think what you are really asking is how does one know if the experience is TRUE or FALSE. Nothing tells one that an experience is true, but do I experience letters and the act of typing at this moment? Yes, I most certainly do. Now, I cannot be sure that this is not a false experience or an illusory one, but it is, at the very least, a false one even if it is not a true one. To have a false experience is still an experience even if I am a non-existent being. To have no experience at all, true or false, is to be unable to consider it.
Unless you mean something entirely different by the word "experience," in which case we are simply describing different things/ideas with the same word.
That's what I meant. I did not mean experience as in skill or memory, but I meant it as any type of feeling at all. The mere sensory activation, thought, pain, emotion or otherwise acting on a consciousness.
I suppose I'm trying to find a way to argue the possibility that nothing actually exists and that no experience is taking place. But it's an impossible argument to make, seeing as existence is self-evident :(
oh well.
and its why im such a huge believer in new historicism
I think therefore I am, I am only because someone greater has created me.
i love these
and the writer wrote "i think therefore i must exist" thought descarte proving the statement false
Holy shit I think Descartes trolled existence.
I can be certain of one thing: something is definitely going on. I don't know what or how but something's up with existence, I'm sure of it.
Hmmm... Well, the thing is, even if it was this 'evil genius' who made us think that Cogito Ergo Sum, it still doesn't make that statement invalid. To even think that, we must exist, for this Evil Genius to do something to us, we must exist. We may doubt math, science and our own mind, but there's one thing that we can't doubt: you can't affect something that doesn't exist because that implies not being able to affect it in any way.
This kind of ties in with the egocentric predicament (if you don't know what that is, watch Vsauce's 'Is anything real')
Interestingly enough, the "Cogito ergo sum" argument predates Descarts by at least a thousand years. Augustine (and probably others before him) made use of variations of this argument to prove that they could be certain of one thing, existance. In order to be correct or incorrect about something, you must first exist. So, if you say "I am," then if you are right, you exist, and if you are wrong, you exist, and therefore you are not wrong.
The way I determine if my eyes are deceiving me is to throw holy water. If the holy water falls through the floor blocks, then I know that the floor blocks aren't really there.
+Shawn Ravenfire and you then spend all your time throwing holy water to make sure you don't fall through the floor.
I'm amazed that not one single person got this reference in the 6 year's this video has been up
I agree with when he says there has to be someone who doubts everything because that is kind of true, there has to be out of the box thinkers in this world. But I don’t necessarily think everything can be doubted, there are many things on earth/in life that are certain and real. For sure one can doubt a statement or rule, but to doubt something in real life that is in front of you is kind of ridiculous.
Even if our thoughts aren't ours but fabrications of a Demon, we still need some sort of _mental substratum_ that allows such thoughts to be processed. Also, thoughts always follow the rules of causation (even abstract ones), which demonstrates that there's an inherent temporality in the thought processing. That, plus the argument that doubt of your own existence demonstrates thinking agency, are irrefutable evidence that your _self_ is real, that you somehow are capable of processing thought.
you're doing a nice job here dude, ¿can you talk about russel? ¿or about love in schopenhauer?
That Kefka laugh still creeps me out.
Dude on Imgur sent me this, friggin godsend!
Now i want to go outside and see objects and concepts with that logic in mind.
I had a dream/nightmare once ( It's not relevant to the video or anything. ) That numbers were infinitely multiplying, and never decreasing. My mind would feel numb as if it was getting heavier and heavier as it passed unimaginable amounts. It was a never ending cycle of weight, and to put it into perspective it was experiencing nothing but gravity.
you leave out the second part of Decartes essay, which although flawed is relevant. He builds himself back up from cogito ergo sum, by asserting the existence of a benevolent god, if I remember correctly.
1:13.
Incorrect. test: Read a newspaper, magazine or novel with lots of pages. Finished? Now, read it again. If you're awake, your second read is completely identical to the first one. If you're not, the second read should be different.
Dreamstate cannot recreate so much information on such precise level.
Did you know? Descartes' famous assertion was actually originally written as "I think - I am", but the Cogito Ergo Sum stuck because it sounded cooler. This shows that his intent was not actually to state via syllogism.
So thats where that phrase comes from. Also, in context it makes a different meaning.
2:18 ''Or is he ?''
*Vsauce intensifies*
How much thought? Or rather how complex must thoughts be to imply existence? For example is Descarte saying that because he thinks it is a warm day he exists or is it the act of questioning his own existence that makes him real.
Those Medusa heads man. Boomerang Cross, I need you.
Kefka fans will like this episode!