Metaphysics - Descartes - Essay Example

1. The extreme nature of Cartesian doubt paves the way for the cogito by going beyond the doubt of the Skeptics. For the Skeptics, doubting was a means of staying in a perpetual state of doubt. Cartesian doubt was engaged in order to form a starting point for Descartes so he could in essence find some sort of base line for reality. That base line he determined was the fact that he was a cogent being, therefore he was real. 2. Bacon said that the four idols of the mind were the Idols of the Tribe, Idols of the Cave, Idols of the Market place, and Idols of the Theater. Idols of the Tribe concern themselves with all of humanity. They arise from the belief that what humans think and perceive is the ultimate “measure of things”. The Idols of the Cave are the personal biases and prejudices that cloud how we perceive nature. The Idols of the Market place is the misunderstanding between individuals that arises from the use of words. The Idols of the Theater are the erroneous ideas passed down through the ages that serve as a false scenery in our lives. 3. The wax experiment was necessary for Descartes to establish the duality of man. He had established his existence through the cogito, so the reality of his mind was no longer doubted. In the wax experiment, Descartes discovers that though the sensible qualities of the wax had changed, he still understood that this was wax. This showed an interaction between the mind and body, establishing the reality of the body as well as the mind. 4. Descartes believed that he needed to rid himself of any prior learning in order to reach understanding about what is real. He recognized that his own personal will as driven by his past experiences and sensory experiences needed to be abandoned. He therefore doubts any method of learning that has deceived him in the past even though he personal will is to continue to make sense of the world through his senses. 5. Buridan employed impetus theory as an anticipation of inertia by countering the rules of motion laid down by Aristotle. The three phases described in relation to ballistics, where impetus over-rides gravity, then weakens causing the object to arc and then finally to succumb to gravity is a great step towards understanding inertia in the modern sense. 6. Newton’s Rules of Reasoning are a synthesis of prior understanding. They are not purely empirical, but empiricism does play a role in that he displayed an open skepticism of phenomena that could not be empirically expressed. His genius lies in bringing together ideas by Copernicus, Bacon, Descartes and other great minds and supporting them and refuting them in one concise package while addressing the major themes in an empirical fashion. 7. Berkeley does not agree with Locke about primary and secondary qualities. Berkeley attacks Lockes theory in two ways. First he says that a primary quality producing secondary qualities is not dependent on the object having matter or substance. He also asserted that primary qualities producing secondary qualities was not proof of matter, otherwise he could simply close his eyes and everything he could not see would cease to exist. 8. Humes Missing Shade of Blue is important because it is a problem introduced by Hume himself that he then immediately dismisses as unimportant. Much has been said about why he may have done this, but the central issue concerning the Missing Shade of Blue is that empiricism does have weaknesses just like any other philosophy. Hume recognizes this as true, but also states that the example derived is so singular that it is actually unimportant. 9. Humes philosophy of causation centers the relationship of objects. He says that causation does exist, but that the real connection between cause and effect cannot be known. He says that the notion of cause develops gradually over time through experience, as one perceives relationships between objects interacting in a consistent way with one another. 10. Kants "Copernican Revolution" was the melding of the empirical and rational schools of philosophy into something completely new. He recognized that both schools had some things wrong and both had some things right. The "Copernican Revolution" changed philosophy forever. 11. Hume is against the Argument From Design. He refuted this argument 250 years ago in his book Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. He argued that the creation of the Universe was a singular event, so we really cant understand it and that we cant use earthly reasoning to understand the Universe as a whole. 12. The Anthropic Principle refutes the Argument from Design. The Anthropic Principle basically says that the observance of all these things in the Universe that seem to support our existence is not proof of Design. It is merely proof that we are here and can now detect the elements that support and sustain us. 13. Aristotle did not succeed in explaining the concept of force. He explained that motion was caused by a substances propensity to by with other like substances. Smoke would rise because it wanted to be with the heavens. He did not understand inertia as explained by Galileo. 14. Important intellectual antecedents of modernity are difficult to relate in an exhaustive list because cultural biases and point of view must be taken into consideration. That said, generally accepted important intellectual antecedents of modernity include the Copernican Revolution, the Scientific Revolution, the Birth of Enlightenment and the Birth of Liberalism. 15. Paley and Darwin took different sides of the Design in nature argument. Paley saw complexity in nature as evidence of a just and kind God that had made that individual organism to fulfill its individual spot in creation. Darwin saw design resulting from the need for the organism to survive the brutalities of life. 16. Lockes view of innate ideas is simply that they do not exist. He did not believe that we could be born with ideas already formed. Rather, he felt that ideas came from experiences. This philosophy formed a basis of his empirical view of knowing. 17. Newton equates uniform motion with a state of rest because he reasoned that both would require a net force to change their direction. Uniform motion implies uniform velocity. An object at rest has a uniform velocity, as well. Both would require some force to change their direction. 18. Empiricism is the belief that there is no innate knowledge. They believe that the only things that can truly be known must be experienced. Rationalists believe that there is innate knowledge, though not all rationalists believe innate knowledge is to be had in the same way or concerning the same things. 19. One concern empiricism may have with Lockes idea of reflection may lie in the fact that we can have ideas about things we have not actually experienced. I have never traveled to outer space, but I can have ideas about space travel. Locke said that this is an example of a complex thought, but when reduced to its basic elements, it is the result of ideas based on actual experiences. 20. George Berkeleys maxim esse est percipi means "to be is to be perceived". He believed that idea and spirit were the only to realities. The only thing that made something real was if it could be perceived by the mind (spirit) or could be perceive itself. Because inanimate objects could not perceive themselves, they were not real. The only real substance is spirit. 21. Descartes is considered modern because he rejected teleology and other ideas of prior philosophers. He became the philosopher to agree with or argue against for many years. Other great philosophers such as Locke, Hume and Kant all engaged Descartes at some point in their writings. He was the beginning of a new age, a modern age in thought. 22. Hume view of Personal Identity is that the self is not an actual, physical substance. Nor is the concept of self something that we are born with. Hume says that the idea of Personal Identity is developed over time and through experiences. As we have new experiences, our concept of self shifts and changes, but we remain the same person. 23. I feel that John Leslie’s views are very persuasive. While they do not prove anything to me, they are a well thought out argument on design. Most striking of these is the 1 part in 1060 computation. I cannot say that I am a believer, but the argument is a very strong one on the merits of computation alone. 24. I believe that philosophy and metaphysics move closer to the religious concerns in modernity. Social Issues often get the headlines when speaking of religion, but I believe that religion will always return the basic questions concerning the nature and purpose of humanity and God. I feel that this is an innate desire for knowledge, so I guess that makes me a rationalist of sorts! 25. This comment is referring to Hume’s insistence that nothing that cannot be experienced is real. This ultra empiricism is actually the downfall of the empirical school of thought in my opinion. Kant really was revolutionary in synthesizing these two schools of thought. Hume opened the door for Kant by pushing his empirical beliefs to the limit by denying any sort of innate knowledge or knowing outside of experience. Read More