Descartes (Ryle to criticise) Flashcards
What is Descartes method of doubt?
To doubt any belief I cannot be certain of, until I find one I can be certain of. From this I can form the basis of all my knowledge.
What are Descartes 5 waves of doubt?
Illusion, delusion, dreaming, madness, or being tricked by a malign demon.
What does Descartes establish in Meditation 1?
I can doubt my senses as I could be dreaming, I can even doubt all a priori knowledge (the truths of maths and logic) for I could be being tricked by a demon.
What does Descartes establish in Meditation 2?
Even if a demon is tricking me about everything that I think, he cannot deceive me of my own existence. If I am thinking then I must exist: ‘cogito ergo sum’ or ‘I think therefore I am’.
What is Descartes argument from doubt?
I can doubt my body exists.
I cannot doubt that I exist.
So therefore I cannot be identical with my body and I could exist without it. (The soul can live on after death).
Descartes uses Leibniz’s Law in his argument from doubt. What does Leibniz’s law state?
If A shares all the properties of B, then A and B are identical.
If A does not share all the properties of B, then A and B are not identical.
Criticism// The masked man fallacy: Louis Lane can doubt her colleague is Superman. She can’t doubt he’s Clark Kent. So Clark Kent can’t be Superman. (Used against argument from doubt).
Counter// Even if doubting something doesn’t show it’s false, the general argument in support of the cogito is true, this is enough to establish dualism.
Use Ryle to directly criticise Descartes!!!!
Ryle says to call the soul a separate entity is a ‘category mistake’ he uses cricketer analogy to show this. He also uses the ghost and the machine analogy to dispute dualism.
What is the Cricketer analogy?
A man goes to a cricket match and is shown all the elements to the game but afterwards asks ‘where is the team spirit’ this is an example of a category mistake as the man thinks team spirit is a physical thing.
What is the ghost and the machine analogy?
To suggest that there is a ghost that will live on after a machine breaks is equally as ridiculous as to suggest there is a soul that will exist beyond the bodies death.
How does Descartes suggest the mind and body interact?
Descartes says the mind and body are ‘intermingled’, they are so closely combined that they almost form a single whole.
What is the problem of interaction? (The key problem for dualism)
How can something non-physical interact with something physical? How can the soul be located in the pineal gland if it is non-physical?
