Chapter 7 Flashcards
(9 cards)
What was the goal of Descartes in meditations?
To put knowledge on a firm foundation.
What part of Descartes’ Meditations was immediately criticized by his fellow philosophers? Why?
His argument for God’s existence was immediately criticized by philosophers because he reasoned that only God Himself could cause the idea of God, and the philosophers wondered where he got the idea that ideas must have a cause at least as great as the idea since he doesn’t reason to it.
What does Dr. Stokes believe is the biggest problem in Meditations?
The worst problem is that Descartes is assuming reason is reliable, since he is using reason to build up, tear down, and think through these ideas. But once he brings in the idea of the evil genius, not even reasoning can be certain.
If Descartes wasn’t especially successful with his goal, why should we still study him?
1) He uses God as a guarantee of truth - because of God’s character, we can trust our sense perception.
2) It shows us the limits of our reason and sense perception.
3) And he is at least on the right track to certainty, even if he doesn’t quite get there.
What is representationalism?
The idea that we don’t see objects themselves, but the idea of them in our head. The idea in our head is a representation of what is “out there”, and it resembles what is actually out there.
What did Descartes choose to be his first principle of philosophy?
Cogito ergo sum - “I think, therefore I am.”
What does Descartes adopt as his second principle?
All the things we very clearly and distinctly conceive are true.
What does Descartes reason to next?
God exists
Descartes writes that while we cannot trust our senses without using reason - for instance, your eyes may trick you that a goat far away has the head of a lion - nevertheless, all of our ideas or notions contain in them some truth. Why is this?
All our ideas or notions contain some truth, or a perfect God wouldn’t have placed them in us.
