PHL 333 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Omnipotence, Cogito Ergo Sum, Evil Demon
Document Summary
Descartes is one of the most influential enlightenment authors. We are dealing with his text in relation to human nature. There is a big gap between aristotle and descartes- some 1800 years. During medieval period, both christian and islamic thinkers based their writings on ancient greek thinkers. However, descartes is radically different from all and particularly from aristotle in that he turns inward unlike. He argues ask yourself if you can find things within to challenge or doubt. Aristotle"s philosophy was deeply rooted in tradition; he worked out the ideas that were already there. Descartes radically disbelieved everything in the external /sensory world. His philosophy is a protest against all external systems. We are considering meditations on first philosophy. He argues that we have all the resources we need in order to come to knowledge. In other words, if you want the ultimate truth, you have all the resources understand basic foundations.