Ernst Cassirer is one of the philosophers having ideas and interpretations about Descartes. I’ve found his interpretation accurate as he summarizes the thoughts of Descartes about knowledge, his goals and how he reaches his aim of reaching knowledge. Consequently, it is possible to make a connection between the enlightenment idea and knowledge by using “mind”.
Firstly, the aim of Descartes is becoming self-sufficient to reach the knowledge. In order to reach that aim, after having education, Descartes realizes that what education brings is not sufficient to bring knowledge. Thus, he rejects any traditional, inherited knowledge, external sources and institutions so as to get rid of uncertain knowledge and test his senses and mind for finding a new certain basis for new knowledge. A person desires to reach the knowledge Descartes talks about needs to know the limitations of mind and how it works first as an instrument or tool to gain knowledge. It is also understood from the sentence in the text “credits Descartes with developing an instrumental view of knowledge and the mind, and inaugurating the modern philosophical project of defining the limits of the mind”which shows the importance of mind for knowledge. According to Descartes, knowledge is subjective so a person cannot tell about knowledge without someone knowing it which is opposite to the idea of objective having the meaning of existence without knowing or not. It seems to me that knowledge can be seen as a construction, so it is needed to have a certain basis which enables a person to build knowledge on it through senses, mathematical principles etc. The significance of mind as the corner stone of knowledge also mentioned by Descartes in Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy by saying that “all of the things that can be known by human mind, these latter are most certain and most evident” which is required for the basis of knowledge.”(p.56,l.21-22)Therefore, based on ideas of Descartes, knowledge does not just passively pass from hand to hand. The real knowledge requires questioning, analysing and using the mind effectively.
Similar to the ideas of knowledge, the enlightenment also requires the mind in order to reach enlightened state. I think it is because enlightenment requires freewill, using the mind effectively and being independent from external sources of knowledge. Thus, it could be possible for a person to reach the truth of his own and nature which leads to enlightened state. This could also be understood from the words “Thought cannot turn toward the world of external objects without at the same time reverting to itself; in the same act it attempts to ascertain the truth of nature and its own truth.”In“What is Enlightenment?” by Kant, it can be thought that mind is a tool to use the public and private reason equivalently which brings the order in the society and consciousness as a citizen. In Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes also supports the effect of mind in enlightenment by saying that “I think, therefore I am”(p.19,23) The reason why I think it is a statement for enlightenment is that the mind brings the basic action of thinking which is the only prerequisite for enlightenment. Anyone could be able to reach this state if he is able to think. It clearly shows that the connection between being and thinking could bring equally each person to that state. According to the text containing the ideas of Descartes, what people should learn is to dealing with the problems like “epistemological scepticism” so as to reveal the effect of mind. Therefore, the start point for enlightenment is actually the mind.
As it could be understood from the text of Ernst Cassirer, by using explanations of knowledge and expressions of Descartes, he is able to make a connection between the knowledge and enlightenment with the use of mind. Thus, in my opinion, the mind is an open door for the construction of knowledge and the goal of enlightenment with the expressions of Descartes.
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