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Descartes' begins this passage by discussing the experience of walking with a stick, and using that stick to explore the sensations or shapes caused by objects that it touches. This is the beginning of a questioning of what one can know. Descartes recognizes that a normal man with sight might not be able to use the stick with great proficiency, but he then brings a blind man into the discussion and notices that a blind …

…any other is the point Descartes raises about one's ability to develop their senses, just the way a blind man can develop his ability to use the stick. It leads one to think that they can never fully understand the world as they are always impeded by the imperfect ability of their senses to interpret the world, just as the blind man is limited by his stick in his ability to understand the outside world.