Descartes vs. Pascal For centuries‚ human beings have been debating over the validity of the use of reason. This is a very‚ very difficult subject to discuss‚ as one is forced to study something which is at that moment being used in their study. Two classic thinkers who contrasted on their view of reason were Descartes and Pascal. Though both saw reason as the primary source of knowledge‚ they disagreed over the competence of human reason. Descartes‚ the skeptic‚ said that we could use reason
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Descartes’ Second Meditation In Descartes’ Second Meditation the key philosophical idea of “I think‚ therefore I am” is introduced and thus begins a new age in western philosophy. Some of the arguments Descartes provide in order to support his claims are that in order to doubt anything‚ you must be able to think and if you think‚ you exist. Descartes brings up the point that there may be no physical world‚ along with that thought comes the doubt of anything else being real‚ which again
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Descartes wishes to dismiss anything that can be doubted because he wishes to find a true foundation in which to build beliefs on. Using skepticism Descartes can find something beyond doubt to build true beliefs on. By doing so he hoped that his rationale would be accepted by the popular school of thought at the time known as “Scepticism” as well as those who‚ for Descartes‚ falsely believed in Aristotelian physics. From there Descartes can use their logic to appeal to the skeptics and ultimately
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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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Socrates and Descartes have profoundly changed the philosophical thought of occident. Being both great thinkers‚ it is essay to portray their differences and similitudes base on how well they always exposed them. Descartes documented all his work; however‚ there is not any document written by Socrates himself‚ but by his student‚ for instance‚ Plato. Socrates was born 469 BC. He bounced between two branches of philosophy‚ ethics and epistemology. Ethics is the philosophy that tries to understand
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God Does Not Necessarily Have to Exist In Descartes’ Meditations‚ he makes the strong claim that God must exist. I will first explain what Descartes’s argument for God’s existence is‚ and then I will attempt to support the argument that God does not need to necessarily exist through objections and replies. Premise 1: “We have an idea of God as an infinite and perfect being.” First‚ Descartes believes that there are properties that are inherently perfect. For example‚ being good is a perfection
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“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light”‚ Plato said. Studying knowledge is something philosophers have been doing for as long as philosophy has been around. People always see just a part of things around the world. They need an open mind to understand more deep and wise into the world. It’s one of those perennial topics that philosophy has been refining since before the time of Plato. The discipline is known as epistemology
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Descartes thought that he needed to subject everything he believed to the slightest possible doubt in order for him to find that one thing he could be definite of and that would therefore be revealed as something solid and certain. Descartes also noted that everything he believed has been acquired from the senses or by means of the senses but has learned that it is deceiving. He supposes then that however things can be felt‚ tasted‚ seen‚ smelled‚ heard or in short sensed‚ there is always a slight
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subjectivity of our own thought and senses. The only thing we directly experience is the nature of our own ideas and we do not realise how our own appreciation of certain concepts may be very different from the objective character of the external world. Descartes takes a look at memory‚ imagination‚ hallucination‚ dreams‚ predictions‚ etc. which he calls our (sensory awareness) as these are part of the way we perceive the external world‚ he doubts at first that any of these internal experience holds any truth
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Descartes’ first meditation‚ his main objective is to present three skeptical arguments to bring doubt upon what he considers his basic beliefs. Descartes believes this to be an intricate part of his complete epistemological argument. Descartes skeptical arguments are not intended to be a denial of his basic beliefs. On the contrary‚ he uses these arguments to help prove one of his main theses‚ which is the existence of God. One of the main premises that Descartes uses in his proof for
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