PHIL 100W Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: New Foundations, Cockroach
19 Jan 2017
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At the end of the first meditation, descartes has undermined what he previously took to be foundation of all knowledge: sensory beliefs. Descartes has made good on his mi promise to tear down all his beliefs by attacking the foundations. In this case, it is the senses that he has shown not to be foundational after all. Descartes project in m2: start to build knowledge up from new knowledge. Descartes claims to have established his existence. Note: he is asking about what properties (or features or characteristics) are essential to him being the thing that he is. Descartes establishes more than just that he exists. 1: descartes" procedure is to consider the qualities without which he would cease to exist. He claims that he is certain of his existence so long as he is thinking. Thus, the property of thought must be an essential feature of him. Let us take, for example, this piece of wax.
