midterm questions Flashcards
According to King is it ever permissible to break the law? When?
King thinks it’s okay to break an unjust law because they are no laws at all. He says that someone who breaks an unjust law and accepts the consequences in doing so, actually is showing the highest respect for laws. A law is just if it is accordance with the Law of God
Similarities and differences between Descartes’ Method and Socrates?
Descartes and Socrates both seek knowledge and are attempting to solve disagreement (no one actually has knowledge). The fundamental differences between the two lie in their solutions to this problem. Descartes’ solution is The Method he develops (every one reasons the same way), while Socrates solution is that someone needs to change him or herself and not hate the argument itself. Socrates also thinks that philosophy begins with wonder and Descartes thinks it begins with doubt.
What are the four rules of Descartes method?
Only accept is not doubtable (what is clear and distinct), divide questions into their smallest possible parts, proceed in an orderly fashion (start from simplest to what is more complex), and be complete and omit nothing
Why does Descartes develop his moral maximums?
Descartes develops his moral maximums for his method to know how to live his life and act without doubt while he is figuring things out
What parts of knowledge does Descartes doubt and why?
He rejects anything that the senses tell him because they can be deceiving, reasoning and demonstration because people are performing them and can make errors, and thoughts because he could be dreaming
What is Descartes’ 1st principle of his philosophy, and what general rule for what he decides is true?
There is nothing more certain than “I think, therefore I am” and this is the first principle of his philosophy. Doubting and thinking prove that he exists, or is at least a thinking being, because he is thinking which cannot be rejected. His general rule is that whatever he can clearly and distinctly understand must be true, this enables him to make his first rule “only accept what is clear and distinct”
What is Descartes first argument for why God exists?
After Descartes proves himself he proves that a more perfect being than him exists because (2nd principle) something more perfect cannot come from something less perfect. Descartes then says he has an idea of the perfect being which could not possibly come from him without the perfect being existing because Descartes is himself an imperfect being. The idea of a perfect being must come from a being as perfect or more perfect than the idea.
What fundamental difference does Descartes see between a triangle and perfect being in his second proof for God?
A triangles definition is that all the interior angles = 180 degrees, nothing in its definition says that they actually exist rather it is just an idea. The idea of a perfect being is different because it includes existence in its definition. A perfect being that does not exist isn’t perfect
Descartes says that out certainty about everything depends on God. Why?
Because after the existence of God is proven Descartes can begin to trust his senses (our senses come from God and whatever is mathematical about our senses we can trust because God is perfect) and prove other things in the world because there is now something to reason back to as a principle
Why does Descartes think that it is worthwhile to trace how the universe involved in a state of chaos?
He does this with a world in a state of chaos because it prevents disputes with other people and it becomes clear that even in a world of chaos, the natural laws would enable the world to result in the same way that our current world does. This enables Descartes to look at the building blocks of the world/ how things came to be (the nature is easier to perceive when you look at it this way)
What would a human body be capable of without a soul? What is the difference between animals and machines?
A human body without a soul and this body would be unable to reason and it would be able to everything that animals can do. The only difference between animals and machines is that animals are made by god and are more complex while machines are manmade, but other than that animals and machines are essentially the same. Both can be explained by their parts
Why are humans different from animals?
Humans are different because we speak clearly and with knowledge behind it and we have a universal ability to deal with any task
What does Descartes want to replace the speculative philosophy taught in schools with and why?
Descartes wants to replace it with practical philosophy because he wants a useful philosophy that can be applied to aspects of life, not just knowing things
What are the three speculative sciences and what objects do they study?
He divides it first into things that depend on matter in order to exist. There are things that depend on matter in order to be understood, this is the natural science/physics. There are also things that do not depend on matter to be understood, this is mathematics. The second main category is things that don’t depend on matter in order to exist, and this is metaphysics (things beyond physics).
Why do we need theology?
We need theology to live well, it is necessary for salvation and men are directed to God as an end
