Descartes Meditation 1 Flashcards
(40 cards)
What is A Priori knowledge?
-Does not require sense experience to know it to be true.
- Knowledge gained through logic and reason
What is an example of A Priori knowledge?
Mathematics e.g 2+2=4
What is A Posteriori knowledge ?
Knowledge gained through experience.
What is an example of A Posteriori knowledge?
There are more than 6 billion people on earth
What is rationalism?
Rationalism claims that we gain knowledge through logic and reasoning.
What is empiricism?
Empiricists claim that all our knowledge comes from experience.
What were Descartes aims for Med 1?
- To find certainty
- To establish something ‘firm and lasting’ in the sciences
- To build a theory of knowledge so strong it cannot be doubted
- To defeat the sceptics
- To show the superiority of rationalism
What is a sceptic?
Someone who believes you cannot know anything for certain and every piece of knowledge can be doubted.
What were Descartes four arguments in Med 1 ?
- The Senses argument
- The dreaming argument
- The Deceiving God argument
- The evil demon argument
What is Descartes Method of Doubt ?
“raze everything to the ground and begin again from the foundations”
The apple cart analogy - go through all his prior knowledge and throw away anything that can be doubted.
Finish the quote… “It is a mark of prudence…”
“…never to trust wholly in those who have deceived us even once”
Finish the quote… “Whatever I had admitted until now as most true…
“… I took in either from the senses or through the senses”
In the senses argument what did Descartes note?
that there were times when his senses have deceived him.
When have Descartes senses deceived him before?
When observing things far away because they look smaller than they actually are.
What does the senses argument doubt?
Some A posteriori knowledge but not all.
Was the senses argument successful and why?
Yes because it builds in reasonable steps and Descartes starts by saying that some senses may deceive us before discounting them completely.
Why should sight be questioned in the senses argument?
Because it can be deceptive as objects from far away appear smaller than they actually are.
What does the dreaming argument destroy reliance on ?
A Posteriori knowledge but not A Priori.
What are our dreams a representation of?
The reality of a physical world.
Finish the quote… “There are no definitive signs…”
“… to distinguish being awake from being asleep”
Finish the quote… “even if I am fast asleep…”
“… the truths preserved in mathematics cannot be doubted.”
When Descartes is dreaming his grasp of reality is no more certain that if he were…
…awake and insane
What did Descartes once dream?
That he was sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace when he was actually in his bed fast asleep.
What still exists in dreams?
A Priori truths like mathematical truths and geometry. Also, legs and arms because they are rooted in real likeness which shows that Descartes is still considering a physical world.
