...In my research paper, I am going to use Descartes’ Discourse on Method and Plato’s “Phaedo” from the Five Dialogues to support my argument. I’m going to argue that while Descartes uses a geometric method to obtain knowledge and Plato’s method tended to be more spiritual, underneath these differences the two methods are similar in some interesting way. Descartes claims that the true method to obtain knowledge is to turn within to study the self. He uses reasoning, logic, and the scientific method to prove a clear reason for his beliefs and tries not to leave anything to doubt. An example of when Descartes uses the geometric method is when he uses doubt to prove that something is certain. His method instructs to take our beliefs and subject them...
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...Descartes’ Discourse on the Method (Part IV) Vernon McDaniel Strayer University Humanities 112 Dr. Jane El-Yacoubi April 7, 2015 After reading Discourse on the Method (Part IV) it becomes clear that Descartes begins with a proof of one basic conclusion and ends with a proof of something much grander. In other words, Descartes claims that in practical life it is pretty much common for people to make erroneous judgments, conclusions or infer from erroneous perceptions. Therefore, Descartes now wants to devote himself “solely to the search for truth” (Discourse on the Method, Part IV, p.14). In order to achieve this end, Descartes claims: “I thought I needed to do the exact opposite—to reject as if it were absolutely false everything regarding which I could imagine the least doubt, so as to see whether this left me with anything entirely indubitable to believe.” So, the one basic conclusion for Descartes is “one sometimes has to act on opinions that one knows to be quite uncertain just as if they were unquestionably true” (Discourse on Method, Part IV). He offers several proofs for this basic conclusion based on his method of doubting everything so as to reach a conclusion on that which is indubitable or cannot be absolutely doubted. So, he rejects he evidentiary value of senses He also rejects deductive arguments because logical fallacies are common and people tend to reason erroneously. He rejects the evidence of everything...
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...Cesar Paulo S. Castor V 9/27/2013 Ph100 A Discourse on the Discourse In A Discourse on the Method, Descartes talk of his desire for certainty and truth and the method he uses to determine truth and falsity. The text shows Descartes method of making certain the knowledge he obtains and he does not limit this to philosophical knowledge he uses his method in seeking all forms of truth be it the sciences, theology or philosophy. Throughout the text Descartes talks of the importance of certainty and truth and begins by stating that the ability to distinguish what is true and false, or “good sense” as Descartes called it, is not a talent inherent to a few chosen intellectuals who received education but as something that everyone possesses and can develop. He backs this up by making an account of his years studying in both the literature of the ancients and the sciences and despite all his studying ended up realizing that he was still had doubts about what he had learned. He realized that knowledge and certainty could not be gained from books alone because some wrote not to find truth but to make ideas plausible and to Descartes anything that was tantamount to plausible was the same as false. (Descartes 2006, 10) What was important to Descartes for discerning true from false was not book smarts but more on life experience and exposure to different opinions. The method he uses to find certainty is something that uses discernment from one’s own reason to make it certain...
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...Discourse on the Method (Part IV) Joe Velez Professor Kerman World Cultures II (HUM -112) Strayer University 01/16/12 1. Clearly state the surprise ending to be explained and identify the point when realization occurred that the end would be different. In the beginning of Descartes’ Discourse on the Method part IV, he had utilized the idea of his step methods to help philosophy solved basic problems. Descartes explained that seeking the truth in science would explain the comparison in science and philosophy. That both science and philosophy need each other in order to answer basic question for philosophy. The first one Descartes talk about in part IV was (Cogito ergo sum). “I am think, therefore I am”(Descartes) which had two principle in the quote. First principle was “I think” which according to Descartes meant ‘could be’. Second principle was the association ‘therefore I am’ and ‘I am think’, according to Descartes answer the question are we real. Another principle, Descartes had the idea that there was an independence of mind from body. He portrayed his idea of a body as the world and the mind as a soul. Descartes meant that the soul is separate from the body based on the deception of the senses as compared with pure reason. His doubts made him believed that he was an imperfect person but if he was imperfect, then something out there had to be perfect and that was God. He analyze that all creation and ideas in the world had to be created from a perfect human...
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...Paper #1: Descartes and Artificial Intelligence Blade Runner, a film based in the future, precisely 2019 shows the world with genetically engineered robots called replicants. Replicants look just like other adult beings that are substitutes for humans that live for only four years. Living for such a short period of time allows no opportunity for development or emotional growth. The name of the film Blade Runner, are those who hunt for “replicants” that are banned from earth for defying their position in society. Descartes provides us with principles that he considers is the nature of the human mind and its evaluating process, in which the replicants would not be considered human. In Descartes Sixth Meditation we see the distinguishing factors between the mind and body. “From this we are prompted to acknowledge that the natures of mind and body not only are different from one another, but even, in a manner of speaking, are contraries of one another”. Mind is different than the body. When both are working in equilibrium we are functioning well. Compared to replicants who have no thoughts or feelings, just the ability to continuously work and complete the task assigned to them. This is a result of the body performing physical labor while having no thought or interferences of the mind. To be considered a human you need to have these important things working in accordance, according to Descartes. “I am therefore precisely nothing but a thinking thing; that is, a mind, or...
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...The discourse on Method was written in the 17th century during what is now known as the scientific revolution. During this time people were beginning to question the old way of thinking, based on Medieval Aristotelianism in light of the new way of thinking, based more on science. The Medieval way of thinking was based mostly on Catholicism and the belief in God. In the text author René Descartes, expresses his doubts and concerns about beliefs based on Catholocism. Other philosophers such as Galileo, who had ideas similar to Descartes’, were condemned for the publication on their beliefs. For this reason Descartes decided not to publish The discourse on Method until years later. In part IV of The discourse on Method Descartes desperately searches for a explanation of the things that we believe to be “unquestionably true”. He decides that the best was to do so was to disregard not regard these things as “unquestionably false” instead. He went as far as to pretend that his body did not exist and that averting that he had ever taught of was nothing more than a mere dream and did not exist in real life. Before he could even begin to imagine his non-existence, it occurred to him that fact that he could even think that everything was false proved that he existed. He stated “But no sooner had I embarked on this project than I noticed that while I was trying in this way to think everything to be false it had to be the case that I, who was thinking this, was something.” From this...
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...RENE DESCARTES’ METHODS OF DOUBT Introduction The theory of knowledge and analytical method advanced by the French philosopher Rene Descartes is often summed up in the famous phrase, Cogito ergo sum- “I think, therefore I am.” While this phrase does express the final step in his systematic process of “doubting everything,” it is a gross over-simplification of Descartes’ methods. Descartes did use systematic doubt to find the starting point for his theory of knowledge, but his other philosophical inquiries involved several different methods of doubting, from simply imagining that which is contradictory, to carrying logical postulates to absurd conclusions, to the more traditional methods of testing syllogisms and analyzing proofs. In this essay, I will examine Rene Descartes’ various methods of doubt, to show that the philosopher did not rely on the single reductio ad absurdum in his famous proof of his own existence. Descartes, as we will see, employed several different approaches to philosophical proofs, and he was not the mechanistic logician that his mathematical background might suggest. It will be the argument of this essay that Descartes applied different methods of doubt to different problems, depending upon whether the problem was epistemological, scientific or theological in nature. Existential Doubt: Do I Exist? The first and best-known method of doubt employed by Descartes involves reductionism, in the sense that he used a negative or reverse logical path...
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...Rene Descartes is known as “The father of modern philosophy”, and published “Discourse on the Method.” Before Descartes invented his philosophy, in Europe, Scholasticism was prevalent. It says, “God lights up the truth, and people who don’t know cannot get the truth” ( ). He denied this idea and indicated that, with reason, we can find a certain spot where everyone can receive common truth. This idea was groundbreaking at the time. Human being can speculate the world with reason and can grasp its comprehends picture. Unless we misuse reason, we can achieve the same goal. In other words, there is world universality. However, the problem is where we should put the start point of speculation, where to put principle. If each person has each start point, of course goal should be different from on another. Before Descartes, Scholarcism, which tell grasping the truth with strong belief, was prevalent. However, Descartes denied this completely. Overcoming the difference of religions and cultures, and finding the common understanding with reason was the goal of Descartes. Descartes said, “To use reason correctly, we have to follow the “method”. So let’s check out each method. First, the purpose of study is to lead people’s mind to the solid truth. Descartes said, “ Seeking the universality is not to get Schlorsicm knowledge, but to make our life better.” Second, study the thing we can absolutely understand with reason. He said this because, if we work on the...
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...Assignment #1: Reading Selection from Descartes Discourse on the Method by Perdita SimonColeman Professor: Dr. Trenace Richardson HUM 112—World Cultures 11 Strayer University, Rockville MD May 3, 2013 Assignment# 1: Reading Selection from Descartes Discourse on the Method Based on my reading on the meditation of the first philosophy, Descartes tries to prove the existence of God in the third meditation. To my understanding, he came up with several premises that eventually add up to a solid argument. Descartes ask, himself lots of questions. The first one was does God exist?. In a nut shell, Descartes arrives at another confirmation of God’s existence by way of mathematics. Descartes notes, the certainty with geometers can prove facts, such as the fact that the angles in a triangle add up to 180 degrees. Therefore, he recognizes that the existence is as much an essential part of proving that there is three triangles and three holy spirit all in one God. Descartes stated that people have difficulty with these proofs, because they rely solely on their senses and imagination. He also states that the existence of God can only be understood by reason and faith. Hence, the surprise for me would be, based on the question of God’s existence: it turned out to be a very debatable and controversial topic. Descartes, touched on many of these doubts regarding the question, most of which, is just as certain as...
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...Rene Descartes “I think, therefore I am” is one of the most well-known statements by Rene Descartes. Descartes was a French philosopher and mathematician of the Renaissance. The Renaissance was period of time the emphasised the importance of education. Humanism, the study of classical texts to help understand your own time was developed during this era. The renaissance encouraged exploration of the New World, and many scientific discoveries were made at that time. Descartes was an influential man that would revolutionize the way of thinking for many Europeans with his contributions to the era. Descartes revolutionized the way of thinking for Europeans because of his invention of the Cartesian Coordinate, his work in optics, and his influence...
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...Rene Descartes in his Discourse of the Method begins with the problem of showing and proving his own existence, but later in the reading changes the problem and it is concentrating on proving the existence of God. The first time that I thought to myself that this reading is probably about something else than proving his own existence was where the author started talking about perfection. The author defined God as “something that truly was more perfect than I was, something indeed having perfections of which I could have any idea” (Descartes, 2010, p.16). The “surprise ending” of this reading is in my opinion a very strong thought that everyone thinks about each day. Today, we are familiar with so many different religions, but I feel like no matter what religion it is that image of God is always described as perfection. Personally, I do agree with Descartes saying that “there had to be some other more perfect being on which I depended and from which I had acquired everything that I had” (Descartes, 2010, p. 16). Each person goes through life each day and makes the right and wrong decisions, but how we feel inside about life has a lot to do with our faith and believes. The author in my opinion was very clear about the ending of this reading. Descartes concentrated mostly on convincing his reader on existence of God. Even though it seemed in the beginning that he is focused on a picture of his own existence he provided his readers with a smooth transition to an existence of God...
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...“Cogito ergo sum” uttered by the man who is referred to as the “Father of Modern Philosophy” translates to “I think, therefore I am.” Rene Descartes authored Discourse on the Method as well as Meditations on First Philosophy, a narrative that explores the concepts of the ideas he employs. Descartes regards the power of reasoning and concrete sensations as more rational than that of gathering knowledge based on faith. After meditating upon this philosophical notion, Descartes’ argument has the power to provide hypothetical evidence towards the existence of a higher being, a.k.a. God. By observing the patterns of Descartes’ arguments regarding the method of gathering knowledge, one...
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...comprehensive “General Planning Process” could be formed by incorporating Descartes’s four rules that he developed in part two of “Discourse of Method” for applying reason to a problem. Descartes’s came up with four following rules based on his own philosophical reasoning to a problem: 1) First, not to accept anything as true unless it is evident. 2) Second, divide any problem into greatest possible number of parts for adequate analysis. 3) Third, study in order of simplicity. 4) Fourth, constantly review the progress so that nothing has been omitted. Results: Currently, general planning process has five steps (1. recognize the problem 2. define the problem 3. develop alternatives 4. evaluate alternatives 5. implement the best option). Using Descartes’s four rules, I would like to propose in according to following tactic: * In addition of recognizing, verify and confirm the problem in step one. * After defining the problem in step two, split the problem into many pieces in step three and analyze each of the pieces exclusively. * After developing alternatives in step four, start with the most clear-cut alternatives and proceed to more complex evaluations in step five. * After implementing the best option in step six, substantiate the whole plan in step seven. Therefore, the resulting planning process, formed by integrating Descartes’ four rules into the “General Planning Process”, is as follows: 1. Recognize and validate the problem 2. Define...
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...Rene Descartes’ theory of dualism was one of most advanced forms of philosophical dualism, it is commonly related to the correspondence between Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and Descartes. In this essay, I will explain the problem that Elisabeth had with Descartes new found ideas and elaborate on his replies. In doing so I will create a deeper understanding of Cartesian Dualism and analyze the possibility of it still being an accurate claim after many centuries. Descartes’ felt the only thing in his life that could not be a deception from the Great Demon was his mind. He believed his body and surroundings could all be an illusion, but of the one thing he was sure of, because he had complete control over was his mind, his philosophy was “I think, therefore I am.” Because of this, he proposed that the mind and the body were two separate entities. This proposal went against the common theories of the time, leading Princess Elisabeth to write to Descartes asking for further explanation on what exactly he meant by the mind and body being “separate”. She asked how it could be possible for the mind and body to be separate entities yet still work in perfect unity. Descartes suggests that because of Elisabeth’s metaphysical beliefs, she is not capable of comprehending the mind and body as individual, separate entities. (Tollesfen, 1999) However, Princess Elisabeth did not only write to Descartes to have Philosophical conversation, but for assurance on the morality of Descartes theory...
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...The Importance of God Descartes then, very quickly and cursorily, faces up to a major corner he seems to have painted himself into. How is he to have any reliable knowledge of the external world, when all his senses are deceptive and the only truth is his own inner process of thinking? How can his knowledge escape total self-consciousness, a thoroughgoing solipsism? The argument (or rather the summary sketch of the later argument) concerning God is the key stage which enables him to take this step. It is not uncommon for first-time readers of the Discourse to find this section rather problematic and to offer the comment that Descartes is here simply placating religious authorities rather than being sincere in his affirmations of belief. Whatever the nature of Descartes' religious beliefs (and there seems little evidence that his statements about them are not sincere), it's important to note that the paragraphs about God are an essential part of the philosophical argument, a necessary logical foundation for the method he is proposing. Without them, the certainty he is seeking would not be available. The argument for the existence of God is, in part, a traditional one, as Descartes acknowledges. Since he has ideas of perfection and all the flawless qualities of God, he questions where these might have arisen. As a limited and imperfect human being, he does not have those qualities himself. And they cannot have come from sense experience of nature or from outside...
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