Descartes: Meditations - Philosophy of Gender | PHL 335, Study notes of Introduction to Philosophy

Download Descartes: Meditations - Philosophy of Gender | PHL 335 and more Study notes Introduction to Philosophy in PDF only on Docsity! Descartes: Meditations General Into: I. Method -- seeks complete certainty -- clarity and distinctness leads to truth leads to knowledge Meditation I: I. What can we know with complete certainty? II. anything that is not completely certain should be treated as false a. not necessary to test individual beliefs b. need only test foundations of my beliefs III. What do I know? Doubted because: a. sense perception (remote) a. sometimes wrong b. sense perception (proximate) b. Dream hypothesis c. general objects c. imagination d. mathematics d. Evil Deceiver IV. Universal Doubt takes effort -- I must remember my doubt Meditation II: (Universal Doubt is Still in Effect) I. need an Archimedian point on which to construct knowledge II. seems nothing is certain III. Cogito: even if I am being deceived, I am, I exist is necessarily true IV. What am I? a. past conceptions: rational animal, soul, body b. essence of mind is thought --thought is insuperable from existence c. I am not my body (which may be mere imagination or chimera) V. Corporeal Bodies (Wax Example) a. properties: taste of honey, scent of flowers, color, shape, size b. put next to fire and all properties change, yet wax remains the same c. when all sensible properties are removed, only extension remains --extension, flexibility, changeability d. wax is perceived through the mind alone IV. awareness of self is much truer than awareness of bodies --much more clear and distinct V. Things Descartes Knows: (1) cogito (2) modes of thought (3) essence of bodies (extension) VI. Remaining Problems: (1) existence of bodies (2) correspondence of ideas to things in reality Meditation III: I. Principle of Knowledge: what I clearly and distinctly perceive is true --first item of knowledge (cogito) is clear and distinct II. Is there a God? (Evil Deceiver still stands in way of mathematics although it is clear and distinct III. Classification of Thoughts: (1) ideas -- images of objects (2) volitions/emotions (3) judgments (only these can be in error) --principle error is assuming correspondence between ideas and reality IV. Types of Ideas: (1) innate (2) adventitious (external source) (3) invented V. Reasons for assuming correspondence: (1) teaching of nature (but inclinations can be mistaken) (2) direct experience is not dependent on my will (there may be an unknown faculty that produces these ideas) --sun example: astronomical v. experiential VI. Proof for the Existence of God: A. Ideas: (1) Ideas as Modes of Thought --all ideas equal (2) Ideas as Images of Objects --difference in ideas insofar as those representing substances are "better" and have more objective reality (participate in a higher degree of being or perfection) B. Reality: (1) objective reality: psychological/subjective/representational (2) formal reality: actual reality III. Ontological Argument A. idea of God (supremely perfect being) is as clear and distinct as any idea I have B. it belongs to the nature of God to exist (existence belongs to the essence of God, and God alone) --existence is a perfection and God is perfect IV. God and Knowledge A. my nature requires me to hold true anything that is clear and distinct B. I cannot always direct my attention to clear and distinct ideas C. God guarantees my knowledge does not degenerate into opinion D. all my knowledge depends on my knowledge of God Meditation VI: (Existence of Material Things / Mind and Body) I. Do material things exist? A. they are capable of existing 1. subject matter for mathematics 2. are perceived clearly and distinctly B. God is capable of creating material objects C. faculty of imagination suggests such existence --application of cognitive faculty to an immediately present body II. Imagination V. Understanding (triangle example) A. Imagination 1. not a necessary constituent of my essence 2. when mind imagines, it turns toward the body B. Understanding 1. is necessary 2. mind turns toward itself and inspects ideas within it III. What do I now know? A. everything I clearly and distinctly understand is capable of being created by God so as to correspond with my undertanding of it 1. whatever is seperable is distinct 2. mind and body are distinct B. bodies exist 1. perception = a passive faculty of receiving and recognizing the ideas of sensible objects 2. perception requires an active faculty to produce ideas 3. this faculty is not in me 4. so, another substance must produce these ideas of bodies 5. God is not a deceiver 6. so, ideas of bodies have formal reality (bodies really exist) C. what nature teaches me: 1. nature teaches me that I have a body 2. nature teaches me that I am intermingled with my body 3. nature teaches me that other bodies exist D. observations about mind and body 1. body is divisible; mind is indivisible 2. mind is immediately affected only by the brain 3. movement in the brain produces one corresponding sensation in the mind