Quiz 1: Descartes Flashcards
(49 cards)
What is Descartes project?
sets out to find a firm foundation for knowledge
What is Descartes method?
hyperbolic doubt; treat every option that could be doubted as false (since it cannot serve a firm foundation for knowledge)
What is Descartes application?
make use of his skeptical hypothesis to challenge the source/principle of knowledge (the senses)
What is Descartes Hypothesis?
four stages of doubt: 1) reliability of the senses 2) the dreaming scenario 3) the deceiver God 4) the evil genius lead him to hypothesize/challenge that we can gain knowledge from the senses
What are Descartes 4 stages of doubt in meditation 1?
1) reliability of the senses
2) the dreaming scenario
3) the deceiver God
4) the evil genius
1) reliability of the senses
From time to time, Descartes senses deceive/mislead him (example: something far appearing smaller than it is)
Even if we are only ever deceived once we are never to trust our senses because we cannot deny that they are not constantly deceiving us
Therefore, the senses are an unreliable principle of knowledge for they have decided us before and could do so again at any time
2) the dreaming scenario
“Suppose that I am dreaming…”
Dreams are another way ur perception fools us
We are often asleep at night and convinced our dreams are reality. There are never any sure signs that distinguish being awake from being asleep.
Therefore we cannot know that what we are perceiving is not a dream
At any time, we could be mistaking a dream for reality
Challenge: Universal Truths that exist whether we are awake or asleep (ex: 2 + 2 = 4)
3) the deceiver God
We believe in a God who is able to do anything and by whom we (an universal truths) have all been created
BUT…how do we know this God did not bring it about that no Earth, shape, size, etc.
Supposing this, overtime we add 2 + 2 we would be being deceived (alongside all other universal truths)
If it is possible for the omnipotent God which we believe to exist, it is possible for Him to be a deceiver in which case all that we perceive and think we know would be a false illusion enforced by a deceiver God
4) the evil genius
Descartes considers the God we characterize (omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, benevolent) except instead of benevolent, is malicious
A supremely powerful, clever, evil genius who has directed entire effort at deceiving humans
What is the principle of knowledge in which Descartes challenges?
the senses
Why does Descartes settle on a skeptical hypothesis?
He cannot be certain that what he perceives through his senses is reality for they have deceived him before (e.g. in dreams). At anytime, what perceives to be reality through his senses could be a deception. He cannot know for certain that the world exists.
How does Descartes aim to prove God’s existence in his third meditation
Two a posteriori proofs
1) First: Our idea of God - an idea of an infinite substance cannot come from a finite substance
2) Second: Conception - his existence must come from God
By his third meditation, Descartes is sure of one thing. What is he certain of and why?
Descartes is sure that he, as a thinking thing, exists (ergo sum; ergo exist - I am, I exist). In order to be deceived, he that which is being deceived must also exist. At the very least, he exists as an object of deception.
What is the essential conclusion of Descartes first a posteriori proof for God’s existence?
If Descartes has the idea God exists, God must exist
Outline Descartes 1st a posteriori proof for God’s existence… (4)
1) I have an idea of God (as supremely perfect, etc.)
2) There must be at least as much )formal) reality in the cause of my idea as there is (objective reality in the idea itself
3) The only possible cause of my idea of God is God himself (i.e. nothing else has sufficient formal reality to account for the objective reality of the idea)
* Hybrid Casual Principle: only God can cause my idea God, Descartes has a clear and distinct notion of God*
4) Therefore, God must exist (as the cause of my idea)
What does the Hybrid Casual Principle (hardwired) essentially state? What further evidence (3) does it lead him to discover?
Descartes is stating that if the idea of a perfect being exists in his head, then it must actually exist because it is greater than him and he cannot compose an idea greater than him nor put it in his head.
To achieve this statement, he considers his ideas and their possible sources…
Among his idea (in addition to the one that displays him as a thinking thing) are others that
1) Represent God
2) Represent Corporeal/Inanimate things
3) Represent Angels, Animals and other Humans
How does Descartes categorize our ideas?
1) Represent God
2) Represent Corporeal/Inanimate things
3) Represent Angels, Animals and other Humans
Descartes contemplates the possible origins of our ideas of:
1) God
2) Corporeal Things
3) Angels, Animals, Humans
How does Descartes contemplate the possible origins of his ideas of angels, animals and humans?
Descartes argues that he alone could be the cause of their ideas
He has no basis to assume their existences anything other than the cause of their ideas
They could be put together from ideas of himself, God and corporeal things
How does Descartes contemplate the possible origins of his ideas of corporeal things?
He believes he can cause their ideas but discovers this conclusion differently (since he contains enough reality formally and actually that he can account for the reality for these things)…
The things he clearly and distinctly perceives can be narrowed down to EXTENSION
Descartes considers that he is an independent substance which can cause ideas of 1) other substances and 2) modes
Modes cannot cause ideas of substances b/c inferior;
We can distinguish ideas in terms of whether they represent ideas or modes (by whether they are dependent or independent)
What is more real cannot cause what is less real to come to be
(Descartes is suggesting we can divide corporeal things into different degrees of reality: more and less real things)
For example, I can cause knowledge into other minds but knowledge cannot cause me
DESCARTES IS A SUBSTANCE, CORPORAL THINGS ARE MODES, THEREFORE HE CAN CAUSE IDEAS OF CORPORAL THINGS
How does Descartes contemplate the possible origins of his ideas of God?
Descartes could not have arisen from himself, so God necessarily exists, BUT he asks…
How much objective reality is there in my idea of God?
W typically think of substances as independent, since they don’t rely on other things for their existence while modes are dependent on substances to exist
Now we must determine how to distinguish substance from substance
Ontological Dependence: humans are dependent on parents, food, water; all of which are dependent on other things for their existence…even infinite things
God is the only substance ultimately independent (not dependent on anything for His existence) therefore God is an infinite substance
In short, God is an infinite (the only infinite) substance. Therefore, Descartes idea of God must contain an infinite amount of objective reality. He cannot cause an idea such as this. Only God can. So God must exist.
What does Descartes mean by the word God?
infinite, independent, supremely intelligent, supremely powerful, creator of everything else that (if anything else) exists
What is ontological dependence?
Substances dependent on other substances for existence (i.e. human on food, food on trees it comes from, trees on photosynthesis, photosynthesis on Sun; Sun on hydrogen and helium)
We are all ontologically dependent on God, God is the only substance that is ontologically independent
Even infinite substances such as timed space: time is infinite but God brought it to be, space is endless but God brought it to be therefore space and time are finite substances
Why must God exist according to Descartes a posteriori proof?
God is an infinite (the only infinite) substance. Therefore, Descartes idea of God must contain an infinite amount of objective reality. He cannot cause an idea such as this. Only God can. So God must exist.
