experience whatever is the mind got there through the senses. Locke was an empiricist who held that the mind was tabula rasa or a blank slate at birth to be written upon by sensory experience. Empiricism is opposed to rationalism or the view that mental ideas and knowledge exist in the mind prior to experience that there are abstract or innate ideas. George Berkeley argued against rationalism and materialism. He also criticized Locke on many points. He said most philosophers make an assumption that
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religious beliefs and practices. His epistemology is directly relevant to this issue: since we cannot know perfectly the truth about all differences of religious opinion‚ Locke held‚ there can be no justification for imposing our own beliefs on others. Thus‚ although he shared his generation’s prejudice against "enthusiastic" expressions of religious fervor‚ Locke officially defended a broad toleration of divergent
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René Descartes René Descartes has been dubbed the "Father of Modern Philosophy"‚ but he was also one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution of the 17th Century‚ and is sometimes considered the first of the modern school of mathematics. As a young man‚ he found employment for a time as a soldier (essentially as a mercenary in the pay of various forces‚ both Catholic and Protestant). But‚ after a series of dreams or visions‚ and after meeting the Dutch philosopher and scientist Isaac Beeckman
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Through Descartes first three meditations he arrives at a conclusion that the only things we know with absolute certainty are‚ that my own thoughts and god exist. He solidifies this stance by two foundational arguments laid out in the first meditation to build off of. I find that these arguments to reach these beliefs to be flawed by Descartes own reasoning and by scientific advancements made since his time. Before I can debate these arguments I need to outline Descartes purpose and reasoning for
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The idea of state of nature is well defined by both John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. Thomas Hobbes was born in 1588AD and died in 1679AD. He lived during the reign of Charles the King‚ an era when parliament was challenging the authority of the king. During this time there were a lot of civil wars in England. Because of this civil wars‚ he (Hobbes) believed that he was not born alone but had a brother-Fear. He says this because his mother gave birth to him pre-maturely as a result of fear during his
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John Locke‚ whose focus on The Rule Of Law‚ believes that humans(independent agents) who join political society(protection:rule of law) that the end result is to preserve and enlarge freedom. He believed “In all the states of created beings capable of law‚ where there is no law‚ there is no freedom”.(pg.107) Locke focused on rights and laws‚ where he believed that people left the “lawless state of nature”‚due to having no independent judge.(p.106) Locke’s principle suggests separation of the legislative
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Descartes was the first mathematician to use the notation where the letters at the beginning of the alphabet represent data and the letters at the end of the alphabet to represent variables or unknowns. Descartes’ understanding of algebra was deep. He stated that the number of distinct roots of an equation is equal to the degree of the equation. Descartes was willing to consider negative (he called them false roots) and imaginary roots. He developed a rule for determining the number of positive
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been able to differentiate between the two documents‚ or even speak to what they were about‚ I cannot confidently say that I learned about them. The module assigned to us this week in class helped me learn about the differences between the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation; in addition to discovering what the Federalists and the Antifederalists stood for. Though the documents‚ and the groups of people‚ shared commonalities‚ their differences‚ rather‚ are what defined the United States
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DESCARTES’ COGITO ARGUMENT Discourse‚ Part Four‚ pg. 19 – 20 1. Anything that is the slightest bit open to doubt‚ I reject as completely false. 2. My senses sometimes deceive me therefore they are open to doubt. 3. Everything that comes to me through the senses should be rejected as completely false. (1‚ 2) 4. My reasoning‚ like that of any other human being‚ is fallible and therefore open to doubt. 5. All conclusions that I arrive at by using my reasoning should be
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John Locke was born on August 29‚ 1632‚ in Warington‚ a village in Somerset‚ England. In 1646 he went to Westminster school‚ and in 1652 to Christ Church in Oxford. In 1659 he was elected to a senior studentship‚ and tutored at the college for a number of years. Still‚ contrary to the curriculum‚ he complained that he would rather be studying Descartes than Aristotle. In 1666 he declined an offer of preferment‚ although he thought at one time of taking up clerical work. In 1668 he was elected a fellow
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