PHL 333 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Al-Kindi, Hallucination
19 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PHL333- Tutorial 6
- Last class- started to discuss Descartes
- Studied Aristotle and Al Kindi as ancient world view
- Beginning of enlightenment experience radical shift in ways of thinking- Descartes
Descartes
- Formative figures of enlightenment period
- Descartes is trying to develop a system of knowledge/foundation for human knowledge
because he is worried previous attempts have been made on shaky foundation- his goal is
to find foundations that couldn’t possibly be doubted- knowledge will be forever
- What are the things you know for sure, that you cannot doubt even if you tried
- It is a meditation- I have been active in political world, but I have leisure time now to
think- not an active investigation, research
- Meditation is a product of his thought
- Idea that you can sit with no books, television, telescope, scientific tools- you can sit
alone and think and that thinking will give you answers to certain approaches is fairly
new
- Kind of meditation that involves finding something actively
- Sense of if I retrieve into my own thinking, there are answers waiting for me to find
- In terms of human nature, Descartes says each one of us has certain truths built into us
and in thinking we can find fundamental truths
- Descartes meditation shows focus turns to self, saying there is something special there
- He builds a basic vision of what it is to be a human being
- Orientation- last point- who is final authority when it comes to your beliefs, what is most
compelling thing we have as humans- Descartes/enlightenment’s answer is it is yourself,
most authoritive thing, more authoritative than church, parents, leaders, even god is our
own conscious
- Ultimate thing she has to turn to is her own thinking
- From point of view of Descartes- I can only trust what my eyes have seen for itself
- Only way I can rightfully believe in god is if my own thinking tells me to- I put my own
thinking in highest place, ultimate judge
- My rational thinking is the only thing I can turn to in the end, if I turn to anything else to
get an answer it will not be a satisfying answer because there will be some doubt
- Placement of self as highest court of appeal when it comes to knowledge
- Method- only accept that which he cannot possibly doubt, if there is a doubt he is going
to put it in the side in sense of he cannot consider that for foundation because he is not
100% certain
- If there is any realistic doubt to form, I will not accept it
- If I say I can’t possibly doubt X, then I have to believe in X
- It isn’t that I have to believe it because being hit on head, but because own thinking
establishes it as something 100% certain
- We find a lot to be certain that we cannot establish truth with our own eyes and minds but
rather with trust of what we are told over years- unless you yourself can see it is certain
for yourself then it is not true
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Beginning of enlightenment experience radical shift in ways of thinking- descartes. Studied aristotle and al kindi as ancient world view. What are the things you know for sure, that you cannot doubt even if you tried. It is a meditation- i have been active in political world, but i have leisure time now to think- not an active investigation, research. Meditation is a product of his thought. Idea that you can sit with no books, television, telescope, scientific tools- you can sit alone and think and that thinking will give you answers to certain approaches is fairly new. Kind of meditation that involves finding something actively. Sense of if i retrieve into my own thinking, there are answers waiting for me to find. In terms of human nature, descartes says each one of us has certain truths built into us and in thinking we can find fundamental truths.
