Descartes Meditation One | Essay Flashcards
(21 cards)
What is the structure of Descartes’ Meditation One essay?
INTRODUCTION | OVERVIEW | METHOD OF DOUBT | DREAMING ARGUMENT | DECEIVING GOD ARGUMENT | MALICIOUS DEMON | EVALUATING METHOD OF DOUBT | EVALUATING DREAMING ARGUMENT | EVALUATING MALICIOUS DEMON | PERSONAL JUDGEMENT
What is the structure of the introduction?
THIS ESSAY WILL… | I WILL PROVIDE AN OVERVIEW | I WILL RAISE AND RESPOND TO CRITICISMS | I WILL CONCLUDE WITH MY OWN PERSONAL JUDGEMENT
What is the structure of the overview?
RATIONALIST | EMPIRICISM | WHY WRITTEN | METHOD OF DOUBT | AIMS
What is a rationalist?
SOMEONE WHO BELIEVES KNOWLEDGE CAN BE GAINED THROUGH REASON
What is empiricism?
THE BELIEF THAT KNOWLEDGE IS ONLY GAINED THROUGH EXPERIENCE
Why did Descartes make his meditations?
IN SEARCH OF CERTAINTY
What is the method of doubt?
TESTING YOUR BELIEFS WITH DOUBT AND DISCARDING ALL DUBITABLE KNOWLEDGE
What was Descartes aim when making meditation one?
FREE US FROM PRE-CONCEIVED OPINIONS | LEAD THE MIND AWAY FROM THE SENSES | PROVIDE A FOUNDATION FOR KNOWLEDGE THAT IS IMMUNE TO FURTHER DOUBT
What is the structure of the method of doubt?
BEGINS DOUBTING | QUOTE | QUOTE | CONCLUDED
What quote did Descartes use to explain his method of doubt?
‘I will go straight for the basic principles on which all my former beliefs rested’
What quote did Descartes use to solidify the fact he can still trust vivid sense information?
‘That I am here, sitting by the fire, wearing a winter dressing-gown, holding this piece of paper in my hands, and so on’
What did Descartes conclude at the end of his method of doubt?
SMALL + DISTANT SENSE INFORMATION = DUBITABLE | VIVID SENSE INFORMATION = INDUBITABLE
What is the structure of the dreaming argument?
QUOTE | EXAMPLE | ARITHMETIC AND GEOMETRY | CONCLUDE
What quote did Descartes use to explain dreams?
‘Same experiences… as madmen do when awake’
What quote did Descartes use to solidify the fact he can still trust arithmetic and geometry?
‘For whether I am awake or asleep, two and three added together are five, and a square has no more than four sides’
At the end of the dreaming argument what does Descartes conclude?
SMALL + DISTANT SENSE INFORMATION = DUBITABLE | VIVID SENSE INFORMATION = DUBITABLE | ARITHMETIC + GEOMETRY = INDUBITABLE
What is the structure of the deceiving God argument?
GEOMETRY AND ARITHMETIC
What does Descartes say to people who do not believe in God therefore do not believe they are being decieved?
IF NOT GOD WE ARE CREATED BY SOMETHING LESSER THEREFORE WE OURSELF ARE LESSER AND ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE DECIEVED
What does Descartes conclude at the end of his deceiving God argument?
SMALL + DISTANT SENSE INFORMATION = DUBITABLE | VIVID SENSE INFORMATION = DUBITABLE | ARITHMETIC + GEOMETRY = DUBITABLE
What is the structure of the malicious demon?
CANNOT COMMIT | MALICIOUS DEMON | QUOTE
What is the structure for the personal judgement?
OVERALL… | I BELIEVE…
