Meditation 1 Study Q's Flashcards
What does Descartes’ “meditator” remember about his childhood that he wants to correct?
He has a large number of falsehoods that he had accepted as true in his childhood.
The meditator sets about trying to doubt all of his former opinions, but realizes he cannot do so individually. What, then, is his strategy?
He will go straight for the basic principles on which all his former beliefs rested.
What is the first thing that the meditator says he must doubt/ occasionally deceives us?
The senses deceive us with respect to objects which are very small or in the distance.
What is the second thing that the meditator must doubt? Why?
The second thing that the meditator must doubt is “Where am I? What am I wearing? etc.” because I could be dreaming/drugs/crazy
What is Descartes’ “painter analogy?” How does it attempt to show that what we experience cannot be COMPLETELY unreal?
Descartes’ painter analogy is that if a painter tries to create a siren, they will still base all of it on things that are real. It attempts to show that what we experience cannot be completely unreal because ultimately the painter is basing their painting on real things that exist. We do this in our dreams.
What is this class of “simple” and “universal” things supposed to include?
Corporeal nature in general, and its extension; the shape of extended things; the quantity, or size and number of these things; the place in which they may exist, the time through which they may endure, and so on.
Which sciences does Descartes list as more sure? Which as more doubtful? WHY?
More sure:
Arithmetic, Geometry
More doubtful:
Physics, Astronomy, Medicine
What does the meditator say to people who claim that God would not allow us to be deceived all the time, even about simple things – like adding 2+3 (because he is good)?
The meditator says that If it were consistent with his goodness to have created me such that I am deceived all the time, it would seem equally foreign to his goodness to allow me to be deceived even occasionally.
To avoid talking about God, what figure does the meditator now turn to in order to aid in his “hyperbolic doubt?”
He turns to an Evil deceiver in order to aid his “hyperbolic doubt”
What, at the end of Meditation 1, does the meditator say he must be on constant guard against? What analogy does he use for this danger?
He must be on constant guard against assenting to any falsehoods. The analogy he uses for this danger is “I am like a prisoner who is enjoying an imaginary freedom while asleep; as he begins to suspect that he is asleep, he dreads being woken up, and goes along with the pleasant illusion as long as he can.”
