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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be examining René Descartes’ reasons for doubting all of his beliefs. I will begin with Descartes’ first meditation‚ showing how he argues his reasons of doubt. Followed with Descartes’ second meditation‚ presenting the one piece of knowledge that Descartes finds irrefutable and explaining why he believes it to be so. Descartes formulates three different skepticisms while reflecting on a number of falsehoods he was led to believe throughout his life. Upon reflection‚ Descartes decides that he must
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discipline was Descartes. Their writings influenced more modern Western philosophers such as John Locke and John Mill. From this point‚ psychology grew into the science it is now recognized as. The Philosophers The 17th century is the cornerstone of philosophy evolving into psychology. René Descartes (1596-1650) is often considered to be the inspiration for and credited to be the father of our modern philosophy‚ and psychology. He is most famously quoted for “I think‚ therefore I am” (Descartes‚ 2006)
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Beginnings Psychology is still in its infancy when compared with other sciences. It is approximately 125 years old (University of Phoenix‚ 2008). The roots of psychology were founded in abstract philosophers like Rene Descartes and John Locke‚ but go as far back as ancient Greece. Although we know that Babylonians and Buddhists played a significant role in the development of psychology‚ much of their teachings are passed down orally and lost or forgotten
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Descartes method of doubt is his personal quest for certainty in knowledge‚ a system that allows us to find a way to be assured that what we feel we “know” is not just a figment of his imagination but an infallible truth. The motivation for his method of doubts begins as a question of the possibility that all his thoughts could be false on the basis that he has had many false beliefs before and could possibly have formed more false beliefs with a fabricated base‚ and that in order to have stable
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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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Rene Descartes‚ John Locke‚ and David Hume are three of the most fundamental and inspiring philosophers in history. Three very different men‚ with very different views‚ all sharing the same goals; to find the true meaning of the ‘self‚’ to discover the true definition of what knowledge is‚ how to obtain knowledge‚ and the relationship between the body and mind. All three had distinctions in their theories that separated them from each other. Some ideas were shared amongst them‚ however majority
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Rene Descartes and John Locke were two very bright Philosophers long before we were all born. Between these two there are similarities as well as differences‚ a lot like anything we compare and contrast today. Descartes‚ a man who was born in France and then grew up loving mathematics. Locke‚ who was born in England and grew up to be a very popular philosopher and physician. These two philosophers really made a drive for future philosophers to look back on and reflect Descartes and Locke’s practices
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cultivating strong ideals that may transcend existing reality is more important than developing a refined understanding of reality; which is seen in a couple of seventeenth century works by authors such as Cervantes‚ art from Pozzo‚ Galileo and Descartes. Looking at Cervantes’ novel of Don Quixote‚ you instantly know that the story is going to transcend reality when Don Quixote begins to act out of normal character. The novel is hilarious because it transcends normal reality and creates a story
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Rene Descartes‚ a rationalist‚ said that each person contains the criteria for truth and knowledge in them. Finding truth and knowledge comes from the individual themselves‚ not necessarily from God. Descartes also believed that reason is the same for every single person. Descartes believed that nothing could be true unless we as humans could perceive it. He also believed that you could break down things into smaller simpler parts. Descartes also believed that there was a relationship between
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