Chapter 3: Early Modern Rationalism and Empiricism

Question 1

René Descartes (1596-1650)

Answer 1

• Rationalist.

Question 2

Scepticism

Answer 2

• René Descartes
• He doubts all sources of knowledge.

Question 3

Method of doubt

Answer 3

• René Descartes
• Anything that can be doubted is uncertain and should for this reason not be regarded as knowledge. One should not trust anything or anyone who has deceived them before, as you cannot be sure you will not be lied to again.
• Descartes also doubted the senses as they can deceive (e.g. optical illusions).

Question 4

La malin génie

Answer 4

• René Descartes
• an all-powerful demon that created this world which is not real, but tricked us into thinking it is.
• God will not deceive us, therefore a physical world does exist. You need to make sure your ideas are clear and distinct to receive the stamp of approval from God.

Question 5

Dualism

Answer 5

• René Descartes
• There are two substances, the material substance (res extensa) and the mental substance (res cognitans). Either of these substances can exist without the other. Mind and matter.

Question 6

Res extensa

Answer 6

• René Descartes
• The common property of objects in the world outside the mind that we can think clearly and distinctly, characterised by having extension, occupying space in the three-dimensional world.
• E.g. a melting candle still occupies space.

Question 7

Res cogitans

Answer 7

• René Descartes
• an immaterial thinking thing, the mental substance, the mind.
• “I think, therefore I am.” He is doubting, therefore Descartes must exist.

Question 8

John Locke (1632-1704)

Answer 8

• Empiricist.
• We are born with a mind that is a “white paper, devoid of all character”, that needs to be inscribed by our sensory experiences.
• There are no innate ideas, as they are not found in the minds of children and fools.

Question 9

Ideas of Sensation

Answer 9

• John Locke
• All knowledge comes through the senses. You cannot rely on speculation, your reasoning capacities, to attain knowledge.

Question 10

Ideas of Reflection

Answer 10

• John Locke
• Inner sense that we all have of our own mental activities. Our mental representations stems from those two sources.

Question 11

Primary qualities

Answer 11

• John Locke
• These are mind-independent qualities as are described by mechanical philosophy (size, shape, weight, etc.) and you can ascribe numbers to them.
• George Berkeley argued that there are no primary qualities because size and shape and weight is different for everyone, but could not account for the problem that you can measure (fact) size and weight.

Question 12

Secondary qualities

Answer 12

• John Locke
• These are mind-dependent qualities, sensible properties such as colours, tastes, smells, heat, etc. They only exist when they are being perceived.

Question 13

George Berkeley (1658-1753)

Answer 13

• Idealist.

Question 14

Idealism / immaterialism

Answer 14

• George Berkeley
• The existence of something consists of it being perceived by a mind. “To be is to be perceived.” Things exist as a collection of ideas. Ideas we get through our perception only exist in our minds.

Question 15

Divine mind / Divine intellect

Answer 15

• George Berkeley
• If something is nit perceived, it does not exist. Later on, Berkeley claimed that unobserved objects do not cease to exist, as a Divine Mind is always there to perceive it. The world would disappear if God was not real.

Question 16

Monism

Answer 16

• George Berkeley
• The metaphysical position that assumed that only one substance exists, the mind.