René Descartes Meditations Analysis
One great philosopher named; René Descartes was born on March 31, 1596, in La Haye en Touraine, France. He was extensively educated, first at a Jesuit college at age 8, then earning a law degree at 22, but an influential teacher set him on a course to apply mathematics and logic to understanding the natural world. We will be exploring the several arguments Descartes discusses in his Meditations. This approach incorporated the contemplation of the nature of existence and of knowledge itself. Descartes in mediation 1 presents a form of global skepticism; it challenges all of our beliefs, saying that none of them qualify as knowledge. For every sort of belief, Descartes presents skeptical alternatives. For example, your perceptual beliefs:
…show more content…
if we don’t perceive physical objects immediately, then in order to prove they exist, we need to undertake a number of preliminary steps. We need to understand our concept of a physical object; we need to show that this is a coherent concept, not something self-contradictory; we need to show that it is possible that physical objects exist, and that physical objects do, in fact, exist, and we can know this. The first argument is from imagination (p. 27). He begins by showing that the faculty of imagination is different from the faculty of understanding, It is, however, only probable, so the argument doesn’t give us knowledge of the existence of physical objects. The second argument is from perception (p. 28). It is natural to think that we know that physical objects exist because we perceive them. Our perceptions are both involuntary and ‘much more lively and vivid’ than imagination or memory. One explanation is that they are caused by physical objects that exist independent of our minds. But Descartes reminds us that the mere fact that perceptual experiences are vivid and involuntary isn’t enough to show that they are caused by mind-independent physical objects. Descartes argument for 3 is this; I have a clear and distinct of what a physical object is, god exists and is supremely powerful, the only reason for thinking that God cannot make something is that the concept of it is contradictory, then, God can make physical objects, and therefore, it is possible that physical objects
if we don’t perceive physical objects immediately, then in order to prove they exist, we need to undertake a number of preliminary steps. We need to understand our concept of a physical object; we need to show that this is a coherent concept, not something self-contradictory; we need to show that it is possible that physical objects exist, and that physical objects do, in fact, exist, and we can know this. The first argument is from imagination (p. 27). He begins by showing that the faculty of imagination is different from the faculty of understanding, It is, however, only probable, so the argument doesn’t give us knowledge of the existence of physical objects. The second argument is from perception (p. 28). It is natural to think that we know that physical objects exist because we perceive them. Our perceptions are both involuntary and ‘much more lively and vivid’ than imagination or memory. One explanation is that they are caused by physical objects that exist independent of our minds. But Descartes reminds us that the mere fact that perceptual experiences are vivid and involuntary isn’t enough to show that they are caused by mind-independent physical objects. Descartes argument for 3 is this; I have a clear and distinct of what a physical object is, god exists and is supremely powerful, the only reason for thinking that God cannot make something is that the concept of it is contradictory, then, God can make physical objects, and therefore, it is possible that physical objects