Epistemology: 02. Descartes' Clear & Distinct Ideas Flashcards
What is Descartes’ Cogito Argument?
‘I think, therefore I am.’ It asserts that if one is doubting, there must be something that doubts, thus one must exist.
What is the ultimate question regarding Descartes’ Cogito?
Is the Intuition and Deduction Thesis Correct?
What are clear and distinct ideas according to Descartes?
Ideas that are perceived clearly and distinctly and are considered true.
What is Descartes’ theory of rational intuition?
The belief that whatever is perceived very clearly and distinctly is true.
Define ‘clear’ in the context of Descartes’ philosophy.
An idea is clear when it is present and accessible to the attentive mind.
Define ‘distinct’ in the context of Descartes’ philosophy.
An idea is distinct if it is clear and sharply separated from all other ideas.
What guarantees that clear and distinct ideas are true?
To deny a clear and distinct idea is a plain contradiction & God
What is Hume’s Fork?
The idea that we can only know relations of ideas and matters of fact.
What are ‘relations of ideas’ according to Hume?
Claims discovered purely by thinking and are a priori.
What are ‘matters of fact’ according to Hume?
Claims about what exists and requires sense experience.
What is a potential objection to the Cogito argument (evil demon) ?
If the evil demon can deceive about self-evident truths, it can also deceive about the Cogito.
What is the structure of the Cogito (premise conclusion format) ?
- Premise 1: I am thinking.
- Conclusion: I exist.
What must a valid inferential argument include for the Cogito to be valid?
- Premise 1: I am thinking.
- Premise 2: Everything that is thinking exists.
- Conclusion: I exist.
What is a criticism regarding doubting our ability to doubt?
If we doubt everything, should we not also doubt our ability to doubt? This raises a circular argument.
How does Descartes’ view of the mind come into question?
If the mind doesn’t work as Descartes thinks, we might know more than he assumes.
What does Descartes fail to show about the ‘I’ in ‘I think’?
He has not shown that ‘I’ exists as a substance from one thought to the next.
