Descartes/Nietzsche Final Exam Study Guide

Flashcards for exam review

What is Descartes the father of?

Modern Philosophy

What is the difference between rationalism and empiricism?

Rationalism is the belief that we can know our world only through pure reason. Empiricism is the idea that we can only know the world from our sensory experiences.

What is the difference between ancient and modern philosophy?

Ancient philosophers don’t claim to know (Socrates) while modern philosophers claim to know through science.

What is scholasticism?

A form of philosophy that combines aspects of Christianity and Aristotle, officiated by Thomas Aquinas.

Who created the philosophical system of scholasticism?

Thomas Aquinas

Who is the most important philosopher of the Middle Ages?

Aristotle

What did Descartes like about the scientific revolution (Copernicus, Galileo)?

It was advocating a new mathematics (the language of nature is mathematical). It emphasizes observation and experimentation.

What language is the Meditations written in?

Latin

What does First Philosophy mean?

Metaphysics

What is the full title of the Meditations?

Meditations on First Philosophy, in which the existence of God and the distinction of the soul from the body are demonstrated

How many Meditations are there?

There are 6 Meditations.

Who did Descartes write the Dedicatory Letter to?

He wrote it to the theology faculty of the University of Paris (Sorbonne) of the Catholic Church

What is the easiest thing to know according to Descartes in the Dedicatory Letter?

God

What are the four stages of doubt?

1. Senses 2. Are we dreaming 3. Math 4. Evil genius

What does it mean to doubt?

To suspend judgment.

Why can’t you be sure you’re not dreaming right now?

You thought you were awake while dreaming

What specifically does the evil genius undermine your ability to do?

The evil genius undermines our ability to think clear and distinct ideas.

Why can’t God be a deceiver for Descartes?

God cannot be a deceiver because he is perfect therefore, he must be good.

What is the difference between a simple and a combined science?

Simple sciences are arithmetic and geometry (mathematical) because they don’t require the existence of the body to be true. Combine sciences need the existence of a body such as physics.

What does Descartes mean by Archimedean Point?

The existence of You/”I think”. It is called so because, Archimedes said that if you give him a point he can revolve the world around it.

What does Cogito Ergo Sum mean?

I think therefore I am

Why does Descartes doubt that we have a body, but not that we have a mind?

The mind cannot be detached from the body while the body can be detached from his person. The evil genius might be deceiving him about his body.

What are the properties of a thinking thing?

It can doubt, understand, affirm, deny, imagine, and sense.

How do we know that we are a thinking thing?

Our ability to think and perceive shows that we are thinking things.

What does the wax example prove for Descartes?

The wax example shows Descartes that with sensation alone we are prone to error. Only through the mind can we be sure of our perceptions.

What is the significance of the three dreams Descartes had when visiting Bavaria?

They inspired him to create a new system of knowledge that used human reason alone. (The Method)

Why did Descartes like Holland?

Holland was tolerant in its acceptance of scholastic works.

Who asked Descartes to tutor her in Sweden?

Queen Christina

How did Descartes die?

In his sleep from pneumonia at the age of 54 in 1650

What does Descartes mean by “read book of the world”?

He traveled a lot

What is the difference between objective and formal reality?

Objective reality is the idea of something while formal reality is the existence of something.

How do we know this idea of God comes from God?

We can tell that the idea of God comes from God because he has infinite and objective reality. The infinite nature of God makes God an idea that we could not create because we of are less reality than God.

What does Descartes mean by something of less reality cannot cause something of more reality to come into existence?

When Descartes introduces this idea by saying that something cannot be made from nothing. Therefore, something of less reality cannot cause something of greater reality to exist. (Principle of Sufficient Reason)

What kind of thought is the only one that has a truth value; that it can either be true or false?

Judgement

What are some of God’s attributes or qualities?

God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and infinite.

Why can’t Descartes be God?

God cannot be doubtful like he is and it violates the law of causality.

Why are we more certain of our dependence on God for our existence than your parents?

Something finite cannot sustain and conserve one throughout its existence. Only something infinite can do that.

How much formal reality does God have? How much objective reality?

He has infinite of both

What is an innate idea?

Innate ideas are ideas that we are born with.

Why didn’t God give us a flawed/defective intellect or a flawed/defective will?

God did not give us a defective intellect or will because God is perfect meaning that he is good and cannot deceive us because deception is a imperfection.

How do mistakes happen? Whose fault is it when mistakes happen

Mistakes happen when we incorrectly apply our judgement to things. It is our faults when we choose to apply our judgment incorrectly.

What kind of causes does Descartes say we shouldn’t worry about in physics? What kind of causes does Descartes say we should search for?

Teleological reasons. The causes of God’s will.

Why can’t error/evil/mistakes be real?

Error and mistakes cannot be real because it is a defect that does not depend on God.

What is the difference between God’s responsibility and cooperation when it comes to bad things?

God is not responsible for our misuse of our judgement but he will cooperate because it is a part of His cause. It is more perfect for us to make these mistakes than not.

Why didn’t God make us perfect?

Descartes says that there is more perfection if there are some parts of the universe that are different from the same.

What is the difference between essence and existence?

Essence is the clear and distinct idea of something’s properties and existence is the existence of something.

Does a clear and distinct idea necessarily have to exist? Give an example.

No it does not. For example, you can have a clear and distinct idea of a 1,000 sided shape but that shape does not exist in nature.

How is God not like other clear and distinct ideas?

Because you cannot separate the idea of God and his existence. To have a clear and distinct idea of God we must recognize his existence as part of that.

What is the mountain/valley example?

Descartes says that to remove the essence from the existence of God would be to separate the idea of valleys from the idea of mountains.

What is the faculty of imagination?

It is a passive faculty.

How do we know about bodies, including our own?

There are sensations that are originated in out body’s interaction with the reality distinct from us.

What can the imagination do? What can’t it do?

The imagination helps us perceive senses and our body. It cannot understand the definition.

Can you have an imagination without an intellect? Can you have an intellect without imagination?

Imagination needs intellect. Intellect does not need imagination.

Why don’t we have to doubt everything all over again?

1. God is perfect and he gave us our ability to reason which is also perfect 2. Imagination is not necessary for our mind 3. Our faculty for sensing is passive while nature is distinct from us meaning it is not part of our understanding.

What is the difference between your mind and your body?

Body is an extended material substance while mind is an immaterial substance

How do the mind and the body interact for Descartes? What gland connects them?

They interact through the pineal gland.

What are the two reasons you’re not dreaming right now?

The continuity of experience and intensity of experience

How does Elisabeth criticize Descartes’ on mind-body interaction? How does Descartes respond? What is her solution?

She questions Descartes on how the material body can interact with the immaterial body. Descartes tells her that her idea of mechanistic causation limits her understanding of movement. Her solution is that the mind is dependent on the body and that we have free will which is a contradiction.

What was Schopenhauer’s argument about existence? How does art help us cope with it?

Schopenhauer said that we live in the worst possible reality and the world is full of unresolvable suffering. Art, specifically music, is the only way we can make sense of this irrationality

What was Nietzsche’s first book?

The Birth of Tragedy

Which two Gods united to create Greek tragedy for Nietzsche? How does their union create art? Why does art decline in the ancient world?

Apollo and Dionysus. With the Greek’s experience with war, Apollo’s representation of the state along with Dionysus’ representation of the oppressed content, they helped inspire art. Art declines because as the Greek’s started to win wars, they started to lean further to Apollo’s representation of the state.

Why does Nietzsche say “God is Dead”? What murders God for Nietzsche?

The pursuit of knowledge through the use of science and constant questioning causes an over questioning of God which kills God to the people.

What is the eternal return in Nietzsche?

The idea the everything repeats. Cosmic damnation

What does Nietzsche mean by the Ubermensch?

Superman or over man which is a transcendence of our current state of humanity.

Who are Nietzsche’s Last Men?

They are men that are the opposite of the Ubermensch that want nothing great.