Philosophy and Literature 253 Midterm Exam October 7 2012 “Oh‚ Jupiter‚ a robot Descartes!” Asimov’s short story “Reasons” in I‚ Robot is the fictional account of a robots creation of his own path of reasoning. Much like Descartes‚ the Robot‚ Cutie‚ is curious about the truth of his existence and plans to find the answers out for himself. Cutie is a self-aware‚ reasoning robot on a station in space in the year 2015‚ and all he knows are the things in his immediate surrounding‚ which isn’t much
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Descartes Knowledge The question of our existence in reality is a question which philosophers have tackled throughout time. This essay will look at the phrase‚ cogito ergo sum or I think therefore I am‚ a phrase brought about by Rene Descartes. This phrase is the backbone of Descartes whole philosophy of our existence in reality. As long as we are thinking things‚ we exist. When we look at this approach to our existence we must first deny that any sensory data
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Question: "Descartes ’ dualist theory of Mind and Body has difficulty explaining how the two interact. What is the problem? Explain and evaluate Descartes ’ attempts to overcome it." Introduction René Descartes (1596-1650) is known as the "Founder of Modern Philosophy" and the "Cartesian Dualism" although he was also an outstanding mathematician and scientist for his time. Influenced by notable Western philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle‚ who maintained that man ’s intelligence could not
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Axia College Material Appendix A Meditation Worksheet Directions: Locate two resources on the Internet that explain meditation techniques. Copy and paste the Web address into the top of the matrix. After reviewing the Web site‚ provide a brief summary for each source. Below your summary‚ list two interesting facts you learned from each site. Try the techniques you located in your Internet search. Provide a brief description of what happened in your experience. Be sure to answer the two
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René Descartes and John Locke. Descartes was a rationalist who believed in innate ideas‚ solid reasoning‚ and the ability of deduction. In contrast‚ Locke was an empiricist that believed in sensory perception‚ induction‚ and attaining knowledge through experience which he argued was our only source of ideas. This brings us to the prompt; describe the difference between Descartes’ and Locke’s theories of how we acquire knowledge of the external world. According to Descartes’ First Meditation‚ he writes
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sources. One of these sources was the first meditation of the French philosopher Rene Descartes. In this movie‚ what most people perceive as reality is no more real than a dream. This dream is created by a powerful being bent on deceiving humanity‚ but there are some members of humanity who choose to let themselves be deceived. Neo experiences the same doubt about reality as Descartes when he talks about not being sure if he is awake or still dreaming. Descartes points out that there are no certain markings
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Descartes was a foundationalist. His goal was to find certain indubitable ideas to use as a foundation to build his thoughts. His aim was to find a single or multiple certainties to build his thoughts off of. Descartes figures that if he can come up with a hyperbolic doubt and some idea can still survive through this ultimate doubt then this is the most certain scenario. This hyperbolic doubt becomes to believe is‚ “ not that there is a supremely good God who is the source of all truth‚ but that
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associated with rationalism are Descartes‚ Kant‚ and Leibniz. Empiricism believes that some ideas or concepts are independent of experience and that truth must be established by reference to experience alone. Empiricist support the idea of posteriori which means knowledge that comes after experience or dependent on experience. Locke‚ Humes‚ and Berkeley are philosophers
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Descartes and Peirce both believe in belief and doubt. However‚ Peirce argument and determination to find a solution to overcome doubt is much stronger than Descartes’. Peirce also makes it known that he is aware of belief in which Descartes does not. Their beliefs result from the notion of clear and distinct ideas. Peirce and Descartes are both rationalists who believe that there is an independent truth and they know it when they see it. The problem that exists is that Descartes and Peirce realize
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Descartes has a very distinct thought when thinking about the mind‚ and how it relates to the body‚ or more specifically then brain. He seems to want to explain that the mind in itself is independent from the body. A body is merely a physical entity that could be proven to be true scientifically and also can be proven through the senses. Such things are not possible with the meta-physical mind because it is independent of the body. Building on his previous premises‚ Descartes finally proves whether
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