the rationalist – descartes a summary of …...meditation 1 – the role of the skeptic the...
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The Rationalist – DescartesA Summary of Meditations
1-2PHILOSOPHY - EPISTEMOLOGY
Meditation 1 – The Role of the SkepticThe Principle of Charity
1. Descartes fully immerses himself into the role of the skeptic - there is no such thing as truth (knowledge).
2. If he has doubt about any of his beliefs, they will be considered, false. In other words, lack of certainty will discount his beliefs as knowledge.
3. By the end of Meditation 1, neither knowledge acquired by senses nor knowledge acquired by reason can actually be true…the skeptic wins.
Meditation 1 – The Role of the SkepticTwo Items Descartes THOUGHT He Knew Via His “SENSES”
Things We Doubt Normally (We frequently get this sort sensory
perception wrong.)
1. “Objects that are very small or distant.”
*Example: Have you ever been startled by a piece of lint that you thought was a bug? Or saw a tree at dusk that you thought was a person?
These are the senses he is talking about.
These Things Seem Obvious and Undoubtable (But how do you know you
are not dreaming?)
2. Normal experiences of everyday life. What is familiar.
*Example: “I am here, holding this piece of paper in my hand…” But, think about this:
Have you ever had a vivid dream that afterward you weren’t sure if it
happened or not? Have you ever gotten confused b/c you couldn’t remember
whether you told someone something, or you just dreamed you did?
Meditation 1 – The Role of the SkepticItem Descartes THOUGHT He Knew Via His “REASON”
1. Things that are simplistically true, intrinsically true or necessarily true.
*Example: Arithmetic and Geometry (2+3=5, squares have 4 sides)
Why does he now doubt these things?
Because…from the skeptics viewpoint, he cannot rule out an evil demon who makes things seem true when they are really false.
Meditation 1 – The Role of the SkepticAt the end of Meditation 1, the skeptic looks to be victorious.
*There is no such thing as truth or knowledge!!!
*How can the skeptic possibly be wrong?
To defeat the skeptic, Descartes will need to find something that can’t be
doubted! He will need to find something certain in order to re-build
what he torn down.
Meditation 2 – Cogito, Thinking & Wax Undermining the Skeptic
1. Meditation 2 occurs the day after Meditation 1…Descartes “slept on it.”
2. He resolves to continue his search for certainty and discard any notion for which he can doubt.
3. He hopes to achieve great things if he can find just 1 thing not to doubt.
Meditation 2 – Cogito, Thinking & Wax Cogito
1. At the end of Meditation 1, Descartes concedes that he cannot trust his senses or his body and the physical world.
2. BUT! Does that mean he cannot exist either?
3. If he is “doubting” he must exist!
Meditation 2 – Cogito, Thinking & Wax What about the Evil Demon?
1. For if there is an evil demon there to trick him in all of these insidious ways, HE MUST EXIST!
Even then if he is deceiving me I undoubtedly exist: let him deceive me all he can, he will never bring it about
that I am nothing while I think I am something. So this proposition, I am, I exist, must be true whenever I assert
it or think it.
Meditation 2 – Cogito, Thinking & Wax Cogito Ergo Sum –
“I think, therefore, I exist.”
The Argument:
I now think
Each case of thinking has an existent thinker
________________________
I exist
How about turning this into a Symbolic Argument?
Let “T” = Think
Let “E” = Exist
T
T ^E
________________
E
Meditation 2 – Cogito, Thinking & Wax • Just a little question…
• How in the heck are we going to get rid of the evil demon idea?
• Just because we exist, it doesn’t prove the non-existence of the evil demon.
• Any answers?
Meditation 2 – Cogito, Thinking & Wax The Thinking Thing – The Rebuilding
Begins
1. Now he knows THAT he is, the question becomes, WHAT is he?
2. Before he thought it away: He was a body with a soul. Can he be that again?
3. Then he begins thinking that he was a “rational man.” – Whoa, time out! (He stops himself) If he starts here, he’ll have even more questions…So, he decides eff that!.. Then, he once again, begins with the idea of the body with a soul.
Meditation 2 – Cogito, Thinking & Wax The Thinking Thing – The Rebuilding
Begins
He is a BODY and a SOUL
Body: Face, hands, arms and etc.
Soul: The animation of the body…walking, eating, etc.
(NOT our idea of the soul!!!)
He kind of tells us that he never really wanted to doubt the existence of the
Body and Soul because it really didn’t make sense to do so. But, because he
was playing skeptic, he had to.
“I believed that I distinctly knew its nature”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRPiGoieHv0
Meditation 2 – Cogito, Thinking & Wax The Thinking Thing – The Rebuilding
Begins
1. Here comes that pesky evil deceiver, again.
a. All of these things can be fake, i.e.: body and soul.
b. Even if “I” assume them false, there is still and “I.”
c. As soon as you doubt, you are thinking, so he is a “thinking thing.” He is a Thinking Thingat it’s necessary core. – What the heck does this mean? (See next slide.)
Meditation 2 – Cogito, Thinking & Wax The Thinking Thing – The Rebuilding
Begins
-He is a Thinking Thing at it’s necessary core.
-He only wants the idea of what he must be.
Example: What is essential about a triangle is not its size, color, etc., but that it is a “three-sided closed plane figure.”
Do you get it now? Explain.
Meditation 2 – Cogito, Thinking & Wax A Piece of Wax – It’s Necessary Core
1. Descartes has a piece of wax: -It has an odor, color, a sweet taste, it’s a little cold and makes a sound like it is kind of hard.
2. Descartes’ piece of wax now moves closer to the fire:
-The smell changes, it becomes tasteless, the color changes and it becomes soft.
Meditation 2 – Cogito, Thinking & Wax A Piece of Wax – It’s Necessary Core
1. After the wax changes form, Descartes has no “additional” doubt that it is the same piece of wax.
-Why did I say “additional?”
UGH! That pesky evil demon, again!
2. How does he know it’s the same piece of wax?
–It can’t be through the senses because all of the sense information has changed. –How does he know that it’s wax when there is just a “body” there?
Meditation 2 – Cogito, Thinking & Wax A Piece of Wax – It’s Necessary Core
–How does he know that it’s wax when there is just a “body” there?
a. He CANNOT know through his senses because a piece of wax is flexible and movable and can be an infinity of shapes.
b. He CAN know it because he has an idea of the wax. He perceives the “idea” through his mind alone, i.e.: “reason.”
Meditation 2 – Cogito, Thinking & WaxA Piece of Wax – It’s Necessary Core
FINALLY! Descartes has a conclusion!
A piece of wax, himself, a triangle and so on, at it’s necessary core are ideas thought about through reason
and NOT the senses!
-He’s forced to conclude that even though he started out saying that it SEEMED to him that he knew things better through the senses, it, in fact, can’t be the case because he must know things only through the mind!
