Descartes: Part 2 - The Search for Certainty

Flashcards on Descartes' philosophy, focusing on his search for certainty, the mind-body problem, and the existence of God and the world.

Descartes' Second Meditation - Opening Passage

The opening passage of the second meditation expresses deep doubts and a feeling of being lost in a whirlpool of uncertainty.

Descartes' Goal - Firm Foundation

Descartes aimed to find one certain and unshakeable point, like Archimedes' immovable point, to build his philosophical system.

Cogito, ergo sum

Descartes realized that the very act of doubting implies existence, expressed as "Cogito, ergo sum."

Descartes' Certainty

Descartes considered 'I think, therefore I am' as an indubitable truth, a solid foundation for his philosophy.

Descartes' Argument from Deception

In the Meditations, Descartes used the idea of being deceived by a demon to arrive at the conclusion that he must exist if he is being deceived.

Saint Augustine's Insight

Similar to Descartes, Saint Augustine concluded that if he is deceived (Si fallor, sum), then he must exist.

Descartes' Question - What am I?

Descartes considered what he could say he is, realizing he might confuse it with something else and fall into error.

Descartes' Method of Doubt

Descartes went back to his previous beliefs, eliminating anything doubtful to find a certain and unshakable understanding of 'I'.

Descartes' Doubt and the Deceiver

Descartes questioned what he could claim to be, considering the possibility of a malicious deceiver tricking him.

Descartes' Conclusion - Thinking Thing

Descartes affirmed that he could confidently grasp his mind and thoughts, concluding that he exists as a thinking thing.

Thinking Thing

Something that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, and also senses and has mental images.

Descartes - The Existence of God

If Descartes could prove God exists, he would have a guarantee that the world exists as God's creation; but if he could not, his project would be limited to knowing only his existence as a pure mind.

Descartes' Arguments for God's Existence

Descartes proposed two arguments for God's existence: the trademark argument and the ontological argument.

Descartes' Trademark Argument

Descartes claimed he has an idea of God as a supremely perfect being, implying the idea must be innate and come from God himself.

Descartes' Ontological Argument

Descartes argued that the idea of God as a supremely perfect being implies that God must exist, as real existence is more perfect than existence only in the mind.

Descartes - God's Essence

For Descartes, God's essence implies His existence because existence is a necessary aspect of perfection.

Descartes - Existence of the World

After establishing God's existence, Descartes argued that God's goodness guarantees the existence of the physical world because God is not a deceiver.

Descartes' Wax Argument

Through the wax argument, Descartes aimed to show that knowledge of physical objects comes from reason, not the senses.

Descartes - Wax Experiment

The experiment where Descartes showed that the essence of physical things cannot be the color, shape or texture as these can change or disappear – hence, they are not fundamental to physical thing.

Essence of Physical Things

Take up of space.

Res Extensa

Descartes used the term res extensa to refer to extended things or things that takes up space.

Cartesian Dualism

Descartes believed reality is made up of two kinds of substances: res cogitans (thinking things or minds) and res extensa (extended things or bodies).

Descartes - Minds and Space

For Descartes, minds do not occupy space and have the feature of thought.

Descartes - Substances

In Descartes view of reality, only humans are a combination of both substances: mind and body. The physical objects we see around us are extended things. God is an infinite thinking thing.

Descartes - Mind-Body Connection

Descartes believed that the mind is seated in the brain, in the pineal gland, the organ through which the mind controls the body.

Descartes - Mind and Body

In the sixth meditation, Descartes insisted that the mind is not present in the body as a sailor is present in a ship, but is conjoined or intermingled with it.