Sarah Gabr 900-08-9073 Final Essay In the First Meditation‚ Descartes presents his philosophical project‚ and he claims that‚ in order to complete this project‚ he needs to put into questions the truth of all his beliefs. Descartes shows that we can doubt of the truth of all our beliefs by two main arguments‚ the Dream Argument and the Evil Genius argument. In the Dream Argument‚ Descartes discusses the senses and how it can deceive. Descartes then mentions that when he is dreaming he can also sense
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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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Imitation Plato and Aristotle Introduction Plato and Aristotle are two famous literary critics in ancient Greece. Aristotle is Plato’s student. They all agree that art is a form of imitation. However‚ their attitudes towards imitation are profoundly different. Plato claims that poetry is worthless and bad because it is mere imitation and may have bad influence on human beings. Instead‚ though Aristotle admits that poetry is imitation‚ he thinks that it is all right and even good. He also
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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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In this paper‚ I will argue Descartes’ argument‚ that it is possible to gain knowledge‚ is flawed and incorrect. First‚ I will set out Descartes’ premise for believing knowledge is possible. Next‚ I will reintroduce his ideas in order to point out flaws and show the weakness of his position. Then‚ I will provide a counter to my assertions. Finally‚ I will give my reasons for supporting the notion that it is not possible to gain knowledge. Descartes’ Argument Descartes’ argument for knowledge is based
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Mimesis: Plato and Aristotle 1‚515 Words Philosophy 2348: Aesthetics\ The term ‘mimesis’ is loosely defined as ‘imitation’‚ and although an extensive paper could be written about the cogency of such a narrow definition‚ I will instead focus on Plato and Aristotle’s contrasting judgements of mimesis (imitation). I will spend one section discussing Plato’s ideas on mimesis and how they relate to his philosophy of reality and the forms. I will then spend a section examining Aristotle’s differing
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question even the simplest of things. Descartes uses two parts of his personality‚ Hopeful and Doubtful‚ to show his opinion of scepticism. Hopeful remains positive despite any evidence that contradicts what it thinks. And Doubtful is the side of his mind that finds any and every way something could be a lie‚ In an attempt to find an absolute
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When reading The Matrix‚ Plato‚ and Descartes‚ it reminds us of the reality we knew before Christ. It can sometimes seem like nothing is missing for some time‚ and when you come to know Him through His Word‚ there can often be three reactions. When confronted with the Truth everyone has the opportunity to make their own choice‚ one person can prefer to go back to their own truth they knew‚ go in search of other truths‚ or they can choose to accept the Truth and not want anything else than to go and
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Descartes proves that God exists in his third meditation. He proves that God exists because he wants to be certain about things outside of himself. But‚ he cannot be certain of these things if he is ignorant about the existence of God. This is because if a supreme God exists‚ he could cause Descartes to be mistaken in the one avenue to certainty that he has. This avenue is known as clear and distinct perception‚ and‚ according to Descartes‚ it is what is necessary to be certain about a thing. However
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Descartes believes that all knowledge must rest on a priori foundations. This claim is proven through his acceptance in the idea of God as most true and that innate ideas are relearned. Descartes states that his understanding of “God a certain substance that is infinite‚independent and supremely powerful...the more carefully I focus my attention on them‚ the less possible it seems they could have arisen out of myself alone”(Meditations And Discourse on Methods 45-46). Descartes sees himself as a
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