Exam 2 Flashcards
What does Montaigne say about knowing things?
that we do not really know anything; we only know what the power to know in us will allow us to know; everything we think of as knowledge is subjective
What does Montaigne say about the senses?
it is what he is talking about when saying our “own power”; we may not have all the possible senses; this is why we can only know things by our “own power” or our senses
What would Montaigne say about a blind man and the man wanting to see?
he would say that the blind man could never truly want to see because he has never had it; we can not know/want something if we do not know it
What does Montaigne say about proving things?
we can not really prove anything; to prove something we need an instrument to prove it and we need an intrument of that and so on to the point of infinite; therefore we can never prove anything without doubt
What are the four main points of Montaigne?
we can only know things as our senses allow us to know them; if there were other powers to know things (or other senses) we would not know we lack them or be able to adopt a lack (because we have never had it); reason can not save us it is mastered by passions (if we know we will not fall off the cliff we will still be afraid of falling even though we know otherwise); human life is subject to constant flux and change, we can not escape, and we can only live by faith
Points of Descartes First Meditation
says that he has had many “false opinions” for a long time; tries to get rid/demolish/doubt every opinion that he has; he is NOT living in doubt he is simply showing that it can be doubted;
Descartes and the Senses
simple sensations or perceptions; can be doubted
Descartes and Basic Complex Facts
things such as “I am in this room” (which is built from the senses) and how do we know if we are asleep; for sake of argument of say we are
What does Descartes NOT say?
that you should doubt everything; he is saying that you could doubt everything
What does Descartes say would take for the simple truths to be doubted?
simple truths such as geometry; they can only be doubted if a “evil genius” was controlling and deceiving us
What does Descartes do in his second meditation?
respond to hyperbolic doubt to “evil demon” and discovers something about his own essence
Response to Hyperbolic Doubt by Descartes
assuming the “evil genius”; whenever I am deceived it follow that I must be thinking; but my thinking implies my existence as a thinking thing
Example of Descartes Response to Hyperbolic Doubt
if you think you are in a room, but you may not be in a room, it is indubitable that I am thinking I am in this room; if you are thinking about being in the room then that means you exist as a thinking being even if you are not in the room; if I think it is so then it is undoubtable that I am thinking
Descartes Discovery of Something about his Own Essence
my bodily way of being and any bodily objects that I perceive might not exist; but my thought of them is certain and exists
Descartes Basic Argument about Mind and Body
my thinking exists indubitably but my bodily existence is dubitable; these are different kinds of experiences
What does Descartes say about ideas?
every idea has to have a cause
How does Descartes prove that God exists?
for god to be created the idea had to have been of a perfect being; because we are imperfect we can not create a perfect idea or being; therefore we did not create the idea of God and a perfect being had to create it
Descartes says that because we are imperfect we can…
only create ideas that are imperfect
What is the whole point of Descartes meditations?
prove that you can know truths about the world
What is Descartes reasoning behind saying we can distinguish from truth and lies and know things?
since there is no “evil creator” we are not made to be constantly in error because we have a all perfect creator who is good which means we can distinguish between truth and lie
Why does Descartes say God is not an evil deceiver?
if you are an all powerful then you have no reason to be deceptive because you have enterything so God is good
Big picture of Meditation 4
if you make a mistake or wrong judgement, you are to blame not nature or god
Descartes Judgement of Science
if you are 99% certain about something but not 100% certain then you have the ability to choose not to make a “final call”
Judgement of Action
you are forced to make a choice; you can make a choice without claiming scientific truth; you can make a choice but in you “soul” say that you are not certain
Descartes and Free Will
the way we are like god; we can be forced to make a decision but we can believe in our soul that it is not 100% certain
Basic Ideas of Descartes 4th Meditation
errors of judgement happen because of my failure of will power; my will power can always affirm ideas before I have carefully examined all sides with my intellect (=error); I should always with hold all judgement until I have directed my intellect to have a clear and distinct idea
Descartes Clear and Distinct Ideas
meaning that it is clear in the sense of it being present to the attentive mind with sufficient strength and distinct meaning clear plus completely distinguished from every other object; like a square must have four sides this is clear and distinct in the mind but does not mean that it exists bodily
Proof for God in 5th Meditation
The idea of God is necessarily connected to the idea of necessary
existence. It cannot be disconnected from existence.
Ontological Argument for God (Short version)
a. The idea of God is the idea of that which has every possible kind of
perfection and power.
b. Being able to exist, even separately from minds, is one kind of
perfection.
c. So, the idea of God is the idea of something able to exist, even
separately from minds.
d. So, God exists, even separately from minds that conceive of God.
1st Argument of Meditation 6
you have a thought of a triangle and able to imagine it you must have a body; you can have the idea of a world around you and imagining something spacial; to imagine something you must be thinking of it taking up space in some way so you must know space and have a body
Second Argument of Meditation 6
the mind needs to use the senses to prove outside bodies exist; for ever idea received passively there must be some active cause; the active cause is not me since they show up not due to my will or intellect; so this outside cause must be outside of me either as god or other bodies; it is not from god and instead from the bodies that I perceive naturally around me
Hume’s Impression
direct shock like a loud clap; feeling sad when you are sad; as real as you can get; the original
Hume’s Ideas
remembering sound of the clap; thinking what it is like to be sad; ability to perceive impressions; copies of impressions
For Hume….
you must experience the impression first before you can create ideas about it; the only way to know something exists is by experiencing it
What does Hume think cause/effect is?
habit; or things that we have previously experienced over and over
Hume thinks that everything is…
possible; but we should trust what happens the majority of the time and not what may happen out of a very small chance (like all of a sudden gravity not existing) (or in a lab setting you can not know something 100% but you trust it if its 99% even tho it is not 100%).
Matter of Fact Judgements
the ideas can be disconnected; can be true or false; ex) the sun will rise tomorrow- could be false; these are the only statements that are legit in terms of science; probablity type; could change at some point and be false or vice versa
Relation Of Ideas Judgements
the ideas cannot be disconnected; must be true; ex) 2+3=5; but it does not tell us of its existence; can not be 3 without being odd; can not be a married bachelor; not scientifically true or false
Hume and Causality
something we acquire from seeing repeated events and thinking x caused y based on past impressions
Causality becomes fictional when…
you start believing that it will happen and it MUST happen (subjective leap)
Cause =
constant conjunction + necessary connection; constant conjunction- I observe that when x occurs, y also occurs which equals habitual observation; necessary connection- I believe that it will occur again
Hume says that we will never know…
if something causes something
