Descartes meditations 1 Flashcards
what is scepticism
Scepticism is when people have the claim that it is impossible to ‘know anything’ without having experienced it. Sceptics believe we can never be entirely sure of anything.
What is rationalism?
Rationalism is the theory that knowledge can only be certain when it results from logic and reason. They believe knowledge is a priori.
What is a priori?
A priori is knowledge that is gained from just the brain and thoughts.
What is a posteriori?
A posteriori is when knowledge is gained through experience.
Quote in relation to Descartes rationalism and method of doubt
“Some years ago I was struck by the large number of falsehoods that I had accepted as true in my childhood…”
Was Descartes sincere?
It is arguable that Descartes is using confirmation bias, some believe that he knew from the start what he wanted to prove. So therefore, all his ‘findings’ he really just found to come to his desired conclusion.
Counter Argument - But Descartes is not asking us to disregard every held belief but to ‘…hold back assent fro opinions which are not completely certain and indubitable just as carefully as [we] do from those which are patently false’. This ultimately means that Descartes is more so asking us to think carefully about what we deem as knowledge.
Was Descartes consistently rigorous?
Descartes’ method of doubt demands a rigorous approach. It can certainly be argued that Descartes was indeed very rigorous early in his meditations. Maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt and accept his sincerity.
However maybe he wasn’t quite so rigorous when he later tried to build upon his foundation. Maybe his building work was a little lacklustre.
Counterargument -
The way Descartes employs his method surely make it rigorous. His shortcut aims to target the foundations of beliefs rather than tackle each belief individually. This way he is setting aside numerous beliefs at once, which is rigorous.
Does Descartes method lead to a sceptical dead end?
The addition of the malicious demon is certainly the most rigorous of all arguments. However, this rigour led the famous Scottish philosopher David Hume to argue in his Enquiries concerning Human Understanding (1748) that once hyperbolic doubt is embarked upon then nothing can survive. Theoretically all our beliefs can be doubted. Descartes’ method, therefore, according to Hume, leads to a sceptical dead end.
A response to this, as Descartes himself argues, is that in order for this whole endeavour to take place, there are certain things which have occurred. Namely, thoughts including ideas, judgements and volitions have taken place. EVen f these are not thoughts from an ‘I’ as some have argued, they definitely exist. Therefore, there is no dead end as the proposition ‘thoughts exist’ must be true.
What example does Descartes use to show unreliability of the senses?
Descartes uses the example of how large things look small in the distance.
Descartes conclusion on unreliability of the senses
Ultimately, Descartes believes that if he were begin to start doubting every single sense he would simply turn himself mad. He seems to believe that there are some senses that, while can be doubted, should not be doubted i.e him sitting by the fire in his dressing gown.
What was Descartes unreliability of the senses?
It was the idea that the senses cannot be trusted as they often deceive us. Descartes related this unreliability to humans. We don’t fully trust people who have deceived us at least once, why would we trust our senses that have definitely deceived us before.
What is the dreaming argument?
The dreaming argument is the idea that Descartes, while still sitting infront of the fire in his robe, may be dreaming of it. However, despite this, he comes to the conclusion to be dreaming about being awake there must be a way of being awake. Furthermore, Descartes also knows that even when dreaming, mathematical truths are still certain.
What is the deceiving god argument?
It is the argument that there is a chance God is purposefully deceiving us. However, Descartes does not share this belief and believes that God is omnibenevolent being and would not deceive us. Yet, Descartes understands that we are deceived in this world. This leads Descartes to state that while we are deceived with a god, without a god we would be deceived even more.
What is the malicious demon argument?
The malicious demon argument is the argument that all knowledge is false and has been put in our head by a malicious demon. Descartes dismisses the a priori he acquired from sense experiences.
