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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Philosophy Essay (Descartes vs. Locke) Socrates once said‚ “As for me‚ all I know is that I know nothing.” Several philosophers contradicted Socrates’ outlook and believed that true knowledge was in fact attainable. This epistemological view however had several stances to it‚ as philosophers held different beliefs in regards to the derivation of true knowledge. Rationalists believed that the mind was the source of true knowledge‚ while in Empiricism‚ true knowledge derived from the senses. Rene
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external world requires a justification that is impossible to provide. Moreover‚ these requirements are so high that the current level of knowledge and cognitive human resources can not be expected that the truth would be found in the near future. Therefore it raises a problem that we cannot meet this standard of justification. Descartes worried that feeling cheated‚ habits changing‚ authorities and scientists contradict each other. He attempted to construct knowledge on the solid base. He believed
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Descartes and Euthanasia What would the world’s first modern philosopher say about one of the most controversial issues of modern times? Rene Descartes was a prominent 17th century mathematician‚ scientist‚ and philosopher. He revolutionised western philosophy with his ideas concerning knowledge‚ certainty‚ and the connection between the mind and body. Euthanasia is a complex ethical issue facing today’s society; passive euthanasia is when a patient is allowed to die by withholding or withdrawing
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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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Jhefte Pierre World Literature In greek mythology‚ many cases show that the Gods intervene in mortal matters whether it be in a positive or negative way. Another thing greek mythology shows is the fact that the Greek Gods are very similar to mortals than it seemed and how they‚ in a way‚ envied mortals. The Greek Gods were involved in many incedents in mortals lives. They would ntervene by giving them strength‚ giving them glory‚ delaying deaths‚ and weaponary. This would happen mostly
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ALIENS AND THEIR EXISTENCE Have you ever looked up at the sky and wondered who or what else we may be sharing our universe with? If you have you are not alone. There are approximately 3‚700 UFO and alien sightings each year. Aliens have had reported sightings dating all the way back to the 1640’s. I believe that with all the evidence‚ there is no way that aliens do not exist. In my opinion‚ aliens must exist because of the discovery of earthlike planets‚ proof of alien existence in ancient history
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René Descartes By: Geaney Pacursa René Descartes (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher‚ mathematician‚ and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the ’Father of Modern Philosophy’‚ and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings‚ which are studied closely to this day. In particular‚ his Meditations on First Philosophy continues to be a standard text at most university philosophy departments. Descartes’ influence
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Johnson December 12‚ 2012 Kant and Descartes “Idealism is the assertion there are none but thinking thing beings. All other things‚ which we believe are perceived in intuitions‚ are nothing but presentations in the thinking things‚ to which no object external to them in fact corresponds. Everything we see is just a construction of the mind.” (Prolegomena). Idealism maintains that there are no objects in the world‚ only minds. According to idealism‚ the existence of outer objects is uncertain and
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A mathematical proof does relate to our ordinary dictionary meaning of “truth”‚ but it has many more elements to it. The main idea behind the proof is the idea of logic. Math is a science and there is nothing fictional in the logic used to solve problems. Proofs are a way of using that logic to create a path through the maze often presented by mathematical concepts. Because math is so concrete and isn’t influenced by outside factors we can rely on some basic rules and concepts to help navigate the
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