PHIL 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Contraposition
Document Summary
The father of modern philosophy : french mathematician, scientist ( natural philosopher ), and metaphysician. Metaphysics is interested in what the world is like and what it could have been like, versus epistemology, which asks questions about ourselves and what we know. Is there a god? vs. are there good reasons to believe there is a god? . Descartes" methodology: the method of doubt : throws away anything that he doubts in any basis, and rebuild his belief system with firm and certain truths. Meditation i: the senses: senses have played an important role in his beliefs, they have sometimes misled him, but may be trusted in the right conditions. Meditation ii: doubts on the body self, his own existence: descartes found a way to coherently doubt the existence of his own body but not of his, he cannot doubt that he exists as a thinking thing neither.
