PHILOS 1A03 Lecture Notes - Blaise Pascal, Natural Philosophy, Stoicism
14 Jan 2013
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Therefore, press doubt as far as it can be, and anything that is discovered to be indubitable must be counted as knowledge. Knowledge: requires certainty; a clear, distinct, irrefutable judgment. The senses are uncertain (evidence of dreams and illusions) Reasoning can be doubted (the argument about god and the possibility of error) The cogito the thought i am, i exist cannot be false whenever one thinks it. Cogito ergo sum why is this significant: proves that knowledge is possible in principle, provides a test or criterion of truth. A clear and distinct idea (like the cogito) is true. Mind (soul, thought, consciousness) is an immaterial substance whose essence it is to think (a res cogitans, a thinking thing). Essence of matter is spatial extension, determinate spatial measure. Implications of this concept of the essence of matter: Primary: qualities all bodies share just as bodies: shape, size, weight, and so on.
