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Philosophy Chapter 2 Notes
Descartes- mind, body, distinct substances believing that made possible human freedom
and immortality.
o He founded analytic geometry
o Wrote Meditations on first philosophy
Dualism
o Method of Inquiry: Decartes
 Method for finding things out and making sure you get them right
 Protestant reformation was rejected on the religious authorities for the
institution of the church
 Primary of individual conscience
 Even though a Roman Catholic he intellectually and emotionally on
extreme Protestant
 Conception of the method by which one is to proceed
 Problems of intellectual and scientific method
 Decartes produced a revolutionary contribution
Discourse on Method:
o Accept nothing true which doesn’t clearly recognize to be so. (Method of Doubt)
o Divide up each of the difficulties examined into as many parts as possible
o Carry on reflections in due order
 Start with objects simple and easy to understand and more to most
complex.
o Make exonerations so complete and review so general that nothing is omitted.
Method of inquiry- finding things out making sure there right
o Not method for proving what we already know
o NOT for setting forth out knowledge in a systematic way
Method of Doubt:
o We should refuse to accept anything however many people believe it
o However it seems true
o Be absolutely certain it is 100% right
o Doubt the fact of anything’s except one fact of ones own existence
o Not wisdom of humanity
o Not on evidence of the laboratory
o Not existence of God
o Not on first principles of logic
Epistemological turn
o Originally philosophers tock questions of bring over questions of knowledge.
o Descartes suggested we reverse the order of these questions
o Epistemology takes precedence
Our metaphysics:
o Inquiry tells us to adopt a point of view of someone who is ignorant but trying to
learn
o Not someone who knows something and trying to explain it
Example of Jones vs. Smith pg. 55
o Jug does not exist
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o Smith didn’t borrow it
o It was whole when he returned it
o It was cracked when he borrowed it
Stipulating
o In court cases the defense agrees not to dispute some assertion of facts of the case
Decartes Standard of Proof
o Absolutely certainly
o Beyond reasonable doubt
o 100%
o Know because our existence
o “We know, then we exist”
Epistemological Skepticism
o The doctrine that no adequate justification can be given for any of our beliefs
about the world
o Film is the focus attention on relationship between beliefs and their justification
Decartes 1st philosophy
o He thought himself as laying the basis for a new system scientific method
o Free of reliance on
 Tradition
 Wisdom of the archients
 Old concepts of Aristotelian matephysics
 Assuming we are sleeping we open our eyes, shake our lead extend our
hands these are false delusions.
 Neither our hands or whole body is it appears to be
Decartes on false delusions
o He supposed a powerful evil genius has deceived him, not God in dream
Cogito Ergo sum
o Cogito argument: Cogito ergo sum “I think therefore I am,” the proposition I
exist, is necessarily true each time I pronounce it.
Solipsism
o The belief that “I am the only person in universe”, refuses to acknowledge
existence of anything other than own mind
Thought experiment 62-63 purpose???
o Piece of was analyze its properties observe liquid to solid state.
Rationalists
o Accepted Decartes demand for certainly
o Agreed with his view that logic and mathematics are a model for true knowledge
o Sought ways to discover ways of certainly through truths of geometry
British empiricist David Hume
o Produced proofed that neither theorems of science or common sense could qualify
as knowledge
Leibniz, Gottfried continental
o Philosopher and mathematician, born in Germany
o First President of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin
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o He made original contributions to optics, mechanics, statistics, logic and
probability theory.
o His philosophy was the foundation of rationalism.
Law of contradiction
 A statement and its contradictory cannot both be true
o A is a
o A is not a
 Law of the excluded middle
o For any statement, either it is true or its contradictory is true
o Either fire is hot, or it is not the case that is fire is hot
 Truths of fact
o Leibniz stated truths that cannot be certified by appeal to the laws of logic.
 Leibniz the monadology
o When a truth is necessary, the reason can be found by analysis in resolving it into
simpler ideas and into simpler truths.
 Leibniz: the principle of sufficient reason in the monadology
o The sufficient reason or ultimate reason must be outside the sequence or series of
these details of contingencies,
 Truths of reason vs. truths of fact
o The ultimate reason for things must be a necessary substance, in which the detail
of the changes shall be merely potentially, and this substance we call god.
 John Venn diagrams 1880
o Major premise
o Minor premise
o Conclusion
 Page 67
 John Locke (empeirisist)
o Tabula rasa: mind comes into like blank to empty, and is written on by experience,
 John Locke: we have no idea of god at all
o Idea of god comes to us through our senses
o The words correspond to ideas in our minds that have been derived from the
senses.
 David Hume
o Argued that it is conceivable for something to exist without a cause.
o Did not believe that it was psychologically possible for humans to suspend belief
in causal judgments for very long
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Unity of consciousness- contents of my consciousness are bound up in
- phrase invented by Immanuel Kant to describe the fact that the thoughts and perceptions
of any given mind are bound together in a unity by being all contained in one
consciousness
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British Empiricist David Hume
Produced proofs that neither theorems of science or common sense could qualify as
knowledge measured against Descartes’ standard of certainty
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Leibniz, Gottfried (1646 to 1716) Continental Rationalist
-
Philosopher and mathematician, born in Germany.
First President of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin.
He made original contributions to optics, mechanics, statistics, logic, and probability
theory.
His philosophy was the foundation of Rationalism.
Law of Contradiction
-
Astatement and its contradictory cannot both be true
A is A
A is not A
Law of the Excluded Middle
For any statement, either it is true or it’s contradictory is true
Either fire is hot, or it is not the case that fire is hot
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Truths of Fact
-Leibniz stated truths that cannot be certified by appeal to the laws of logic
Leibniz “The Monadoology”
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-“When a truth is necessary, the reason can be found by analysis in resolving it into simpler ideas
and into simpler truths”
Truths of Reason vs. truths of fact
-“The ultimate reason for things must be a necessary substance, in which the detail of the
changes shall be merely potentially, and this substance we call God.”
John Venn Diagrams 1880
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-Major Premise
-Minor Premise
-Conclusion
-Page 67
John Locke (1632-1704)
-Tabula Rasa: mind comes into life blank or empty, and is written on by experience
John Locke: We have no idea of God at all
-Idea of God comes to us through our senses
-The words correspond to ideas in our minds that have been derived from the senses
Th
David Hume
-Argued that it is conceivable for something to exist without a cause.
sh
-Did not believe that it was psychologically possible for humans to suspend belief in causal
judgments for very long
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