PHIL100- Rene Descartes

Rene Descartes

• Some personal notes of Rene

  -studied at Jesuit college of La Fleche

  -studied law

  -served as soldier (mercenary) for Prince of Nassour

• Galileo

  -Copernican model

  -Shatters perfection of the spheres

  -placed under house arrest

  -dialogue concerning the two chief world systems

  -One of the first to draw sunspots

  -carcisian plain (one of the fathers of geometry/algebra)

• Descartes: Construction of a Universal Science//--

  -Descartes's aim was to construct a universal science possessing the certainty of mathematics by reasoning from a few premises clearly and distinctly apprehended.

• First Meditation//--

  -Hyperbolic doubt

  -Rejection of physical senses

  -dream argument

  -am I awake or asleep

  -mythical creatures

  -innate knowledge 2+3=5;4sided square

• Dream argument//--

  -we may be dreaming, believing we are awake

  -how can we tell if we are awake or asleep?

  -doesn't really matter-dreams cannot be entirely fantastic

  -composite creatures

  -colors

• God as deceiver--

  -God could be deceiving me

  God is powerful enough to deceive me even about mathematics

• Evil Genius--

  -God could create a demon to deceive me

  -let us assume there is a supernatural being whose entire purpose is to deceive me (brain in a vat)