Short answer Flashcards
In the Second Meditation, Descartes writes, “Archimedes used to demand just one firm and
immovable point in order to shift the entire earth; so I too can hope for great things if I
manage to find just one thing, however slight, that is certain and unshakeable”. What is the
Archimedean point Descartes ends up identifying?
Descartes identifies the fact that he thinks/exists as an undeniable known point which he can use to reach other truths about the world (“cogito ergo sum” or “I think, therefore I am”). He claims that, even if everything which he thinks he knows is a deception from some evil demon, he can be sure about the fact that he is indeed thinking (even if all of those thoughts are incorrect) and thus that he exists.
Also mention systematic doubt?
What is Spinoza’s doctrine of parallelism?
Spinoza believes that the order and connection of the mind is the same as the order and connection of the body. Therefore, even though there is no mind-body interaction, what is in the body reflects what is in the mind.
Modes of thinking and extension
What is the difference between the attributes and modes for Spinoza?
To Spinoza, an attribute of an object is what the mind perceives as part of the essence of that object (such as extension or thought), while a mode of an object is merely a quality or extension of an attribute that the object possesses (or the way that these attributes manifest themselves).
What is the difference between intuitive and demonstrative knowledge for Locke?
Intuitive knowledge is one of the immediate agreement between ideas without the need to use any other functions of the mind to reach a conclusion - for example, that 2 + 2 = 4, or that I exist. Demonstrative knowledge can also be thought of as proof, and is knowledge that requires the intellect to be reached (through a sequence of distinct ideas).
What do each of Descartes and Locke take to be the principal attribute or essential quality of bodies?
To Descartes, the principle attribute of bodies is extension. To Locke, the essential quality of bodies is solidity; Locke doesn’t believe that extension is an essential quality of bodies because space is extended but not a body (and similarly is not solid).
In Primary Truths and Discourse on Metaphysics, Leibniz offers a few characterizations of the distinction between hypothetical and necessary truths. Describe one of the ways in which he fleshes out this distinction.
For Leibniz, (absolutely) necessary truths are truths which depend on God’s intellect, such as laws of mathematics, while hypothetical truths depend on God’s will, or the fact that God always makes the free choice to pick the best possible world (despite the fact that other, more imperfect worlds are theoretically possible). He uses the example of Peter sinning to illustrate this; God decided that Peter would sin with certainty, but instead of with necessity that he would sin freely among other possible notions that could have become actual.
What is representationalism about perception? (Hint: this is a view of perception that plays a key part in Berkeley’s argument for immaterialism, and that he shares with both Descartes
and Locke.)
Most basically, representationalism is the view that all we directly perceive are ideas, and typically holds the assumption that our perceptions are representations of objects in the external world. However, since typical representationalism runs into the problem that, if all we directly perceive are ideas, we can never actually be certain that the external world exists, Berkeley’s view of representationalism is that our perceptions are representations of external mind-dependent objects. (“to be is to be perceived”)
In An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke posits the existence of an external (mind- independent) world as the best explanation of the origin of our ideas. In Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, Berkeley instead posits God as the best explanation of the origin of our ideas. What is one reason Berkeley gives for thinking that his explanation is better than Locke’s?
Berkeley gives two reasons why God is a better explanation for the origin of our ideas than the external world. Firstly, if we reflect, we are able to access a positive conception of God (or of a thinking substance) but we are not able to achieve a positive conception of matter. Secondly, it is inconceivable that a material substance be the cause of our ideas, while it is conceivable that a thinking substance be the cause of our ideas.
In section X of the Enquiry, Hume defines a miracle as a violation of the laws of nature.
What is the General Maxim he goes on to put forward regarding testimony for miracles?
His General Maxim argues that a testimony alone isn’t enough to establish a miracle unless the falsehood of the testimony would be more miraculous than the miracle itself.
