Descartes

Question 1

Describe Meditation 1

Answer 1

• “doubt all things especially about material things”
• our senses can be doubted eg: illusions and hallucinations
• IMPORTANT: he is merely sowing a seed of doubt rather than claiming all the senses are illusory

Question 2

Describe Meditation 2

Answer 2

• “cogito ergo sum”

- the cogito isn’t an argument but we grasp the transaction from thinking into existence

Question 3

Describe Meditation 6

Answer 3

• Cartesian dualism
• mind and body are separate
• we know for certain that our mind exists => knowledge founded this way will be true
• body = senses, these are not wholly secure

Question 4

Explain the example of the wax analogy

Answer 4

• wax melts, is it still wax?
• wax maintains spatial extension
• mind can see beyond the senses

Question 5

Ayer’s argument

Answer 5

• the cogitio is a tautology => substainsively empty
• if it logically follows that thinking leads to existence, then the phrase ‘I exist’ is a “degenerative statement” as it is implicit within the first statement

Question 6

Moritz Schlick’s argument

Answer 6

• the cogito is a concealed definition that assumes we have a previous understanding of existence

Question 7

Solipsism

Answer 7

• the cogito questions reality outside of itself => how do we know others exist

Question 8

Descartes ontological argument

Answer 8

• Descartes considers the existence of God to be a clear and distinct idea => makes such a premise/argument a non-decepetive one
• Descartes proof for the existence of God presupposes the reliability of clear and distinct perceptions
• This leads to the Cartesian Circle

Question 9

Owens support for Descartes

Answer 9

• “Descartes never claimed blankly that our beliefs may be false” but it is the reasoning of our beliefs that “may have led us astray”