No way!

1
No way!

• Hi! Im Antonio and I read a lot of philosophy.
• NO WAY! Hi! Im Amanda and I dont like to read
  philosophy except for the existence of God
  debates.
• NO WAY! Hi! Im Michael and I like the God
  debates. Out of everything in this class I like
  Plato the best.
• NO WAY! Im Neil and Im in a platonic
  relationship which sucks.

2
Warming up the mind and brain 1. What is real?
2. How do you know? 3. Have you ever been fooled
or deceived? Give examples Jot down thoughts on a
sheet of paper
3
Rene Descartes1596-1650

• AGENDA
• Life
• Meditations
• Dualism
• Doubt
• Existence of god
• Open Discussion

4
His importance

• French philosopher, mathematician and physical
  scientist (optics, physics, physiology)
• Father of Modern Rationalist Philosophy
• Initiates intellectual break with ancient and
  medieval thinking
• Appeals to analytical reason and logic to
  investigate the nature of both mind and nature in
  the context of developing science

5
Descartes Contemporaries

• Copernicus (Polish 1473-1543)Astronomy
  Heliocentric solar system Challenge to
  Church-endorsed Geocentric universe
• Francis Bacon (English 1561-1626)Development of
  the scientific method
• Galileo (Italian 1564-1642) Mathematician,
  Physicist Astronomer Copernican challenge to
  Church
• Thomas Hobbes (English 1588 - 1679)
• Kepler (German 1571-1630)Discovered laws of
  planetary motion
• Blaise Pascal (French 1623 - 1662) philosopher,
  mathematician
• Baruch Benedict Spinoza (Dutch 1623 - 1677)
  philosopher
• Boyle (Irish 1627-1691)Developed experimental
  chemistry worked in mechanics, medicine,
  hydrodynamics
• John Locke (1632 - 1704)
• Newton (English 1642-1727) Fundamental laws of
  physics classical mechanics
• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (German 1646-1716)
  philosopher, mathematician, scientist.

6
Life

• 1596-1650, born at La Haye, a small town in
  Touraine, France.
• Educated at a Jesuit college of La Fleche. He was
  dissatisfied with the course of instruction
  because it chiefly consisted of the transmission
  of the received opinions.
• 1619 in a series of dreams Descartes was
  convinced that he was favored by God, destined to
  be a philosopher.
• These dreams motivated him to invent a method of
  formal reasoning that would unite both
  mathematics and the physical sciences.
• 1637 he published Discourse on Method.
• 1640 he grievously experienced the death of his 5
  yr. old illegitimate daughter Francine.

7
Life

• 1641 he published Meditations on The First
  Philosophy with six sets of objections from
  various distinguished persons (including Hobbes
  and Gassendi), Descartes Replies to the
  Objections.
• 1644 Descartes published Principles of
  Philosophy.
• 1649 he became (with much hesitation) an
  instructor to Queen King Christina of Sweden.
• 1649 He published The Passions of the Soul.
• Feb. 11th, 1650 he died of pneumonia as a result
  of the
• Swedish climate and demands made upon him by
  the Queen.

8
Major works

• 1618. Compendium Musicae.
• 1628. Rules for the Direction of the Mind.
• 1637. Discourse on the Method ("Discours de la
  Methode").
• 1637. La Géométrie.
• 1641. Meditations on First Philosophy.
• 1644. Principles of Philosophy.
• 1647. Comments on a Certain Broadsheet.
• 1647. The Description of the Human Body.
• 1648. Conversation with Burman.
• 1649. Passions of the Soul.

9
Meditations

• Doubt/certainty (I)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?veTezdMLJoyE
• Dualism (II)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vlEr8hnvzeHU
• Existence of God (III)
• Vs the evil demon/genius

10
Rationalism

• In epistemology, rationalism is the view that
  "regards reason as the chief source and test of
  knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a
  source of knowledge or justification." More
  formally, rationalism is defined as a methodology
  or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth
  is not sensory but intellectual and deductive."
  Rationalists believe reality has an intrinsically
  logical structure. Because of this, rationalists
  argue that certain truths exist and that the
  intellect can directly grasp these truths. That
  is to say, rationalists assert that certain
  rational principles exist in logic, mathematics,
  ethics, and metaphysics that are so fundamentally
  true that denying them causes one to fall into
  contradiction. Rationalists have such a high
  confidence in reason that proof and physical
  evidence are unnecessary to ascertain truth in
  other words, "there are significant ways in which
  our concepts and knowledge are gained
  independently of sense experience." Because of
  this belief, empiricism is one of rationalism's
  greatest rivals.

11
Brain in a Vat
Can I be a mind/brain without a body? But what
then am I? A thing which thinks. Whaat is a thing
which doubts, understands, conceives, affirms,
denies, wills, refuses, which also images and
feels - Descartes?
12
Substance

• Thingness or identity
• Two Kinds of Substance
• Material Substance
• Essence to be in space without thinking
• Ex A flag
• Mental Substance
• Essence to think without being in space
• Ex The colors of a flag

13
Wax

• 11. Let us now accordingly consider the objects
  that are commonly thought to be the most easily,
  and likewise the most distinctly known, viz, the
  bodies we touch and see not, indeed, bodies in
  general, for these general notions are usually
  somewhat more confused, but one body in
  particular. Take, for example, this piece of wax
  it is quite fresh, having been but recently taken
  from the beehive it has not yet lost the
  sweetness of the honey it contained it still
  retains somewhat of the odor of the flowers from
  which it was gathered its color, figure, size,
  are apparent ( to the sight ) it is hard, cold,
  easily handled and sounds when struck upon with
  the finger. In fine, all that contributes to make
  a body as distinctly known as possible, is found
  in the one before us. But, while I am speaking,
  let it be placed near the fire--what remained of
  the taste exhales, the smell evaporates, the
  color changes, its figure is destroyed, its size
  increases, it becomes liquid, it grows hot, it
  can hardly be handled, and, although struck upon,
  it emits no sound. Does the same wax still remain
  after this change ? It must be admitted that it
  does remain no one doubts it, or judges
  otherwise. What, then, was it I knew with so much
  distinctness in the piece of wax? Assuredly, it
  could be nothing of all that I observed by means
  of the senses, since all the things that fell
  under taste, smell, sight, touch, and hearing are
  changed, and yet the same wax remains. L F

14
Arguments for Dualism

• Conceivability
• I can conceive of my mind as existing only if I
  also conceive it as thinking
• So, thought is an essential attribute of my mind
• But I can conceive of my mind as existing without
  an extended body

15
Meditation I A. The dream argument 1. I often
have perceptions very much like the ones I
usually have in sensation while I am dreaming. 2.
There are no definite signs to distinguish dream
experience from waking experience. therefore, 3.
It is possible that I am dreaming right now and
that all of my perceptions are false Descartes
realizes that someone may not accept that all of
the elements of our dreams may be illusory, so he
introduces another mechanism to increase the
scope of our doubt. B. The deceiving God
argument 1. We believe that there is an all
powerful God who has created us and who is all
powerful. 2. He has it in his power to make us be
deceived even about matters of mathematical
knowledge which we seem to see clearly. therefore,
3. It is possible that we are deceived even in
our mathematical knowledge of the basic structure
of the world. For those who would hold (as
Descartes himself will later) that God would not
deceive us, Descartes introduces an evil demon
instead. C. The evil demon argument 1. Instead
of assuming that God is the source of our
deceptions, we will assume that there exists an
evil demon, who is capable of deceiving us in the
same way we supposed God to be able. Therefore, I
have reason to doubt the totality of what my
senses tell me as well as the mathematical
knowledge that it seems I have. Since the source
of our knowledge cannot lie in the sense,
Descartes must find a way to rebuild the edifice
of knowledge upon material he can find within the
contents of his own mind. The first thing he can
be sure of on the basis of this alone is his own
existence.
16
The dream argument
Am I a butterfly dreaming of being a man?
Am I a man dreaming of being a butterfly?
How do you know which is Real?
17
Meditation II. The argument for his existence
(The "Cogito" argument) 1. Even if we assume
that there is a deceiver, from the very fact that
I am deceived it follows that I exist. 2. In
general it will follow from any state of thinking
(e.g., imagining, sensing, feeling, reasoning)
that I exist. While I can be deceived about the
objective content of any thought, I cannot be
deceived about the fact that I exist and that I
seem to perceive objects with certain
characteristics. (The famous statement of this
from D.'s Discourse on Method is "Cogito ergo
sum." or "I think, therefore I am.") 3. Since I
only can be certain of the existence of myself
insofar as I am thinking, I have knowledge of my
existence only as a thinking thing (res
cogitans). This shows that the contents of the
mind are more easily known than the body
18
Contd The Argument that the Mind is More
Certainly known than the Body It is possible
that all knowledge of external objects, including
my body, could be false as the result of the
actions of an evil demon. It is not, however,
possible that I could be deceived about my
existence or my nature as a thinking
thing. Therefore, our mind is much more clearly
and distinctly known to us than our
body. Descartes still has no knowledge of
anything outside of his mind. He still has to
make the crucial leap to the existence of an
object outside of his mind. He must do this,
however, strictly on the basis of the contents of
his own mind. It is the idea of God that he finds
in his mind that allows him to make this leap,
and which forms the basis for his knowledge of
all other external objects.
19
Discussion/questions