Lecture 2: Descartes, Iconoclast and Doubter
From Aristotle to Decartes
400 AD to 1000 AD (Dark Ages)
o Represented a time that was little focused on intellectual matters
o When intellectual mattes emerged, they focused on Aristotle
Renaissance (1450 to about 1600)
o Flourishing in growth in science and art that was pretty much unprecedented in the western
world
o Galileo, Copernicus, and Newton in science and Michelangelo and Da Vinci in art
Modern era starts with Descartes
Early Life
1596-1650; was born in La Haye in Touraine, France
Liked mathematics
o Found them pure due to certitude and evidence of reason
Travelled and ended up in Holland (1628-1649)
Discourse on Method (1637) one of his most important books
o “The method”: mathematical reason was the basis of all knowledge
Meditations on the First Philosophy (1641) another important book of his
Died in Sweden
The Method
“At one and the same time, mathematical, deductive, procedural, and rationalistic”
1. Mathematical
o Invented “analytic geometry” – combining of geometry and algebra
Just three numbers could describe the location of a fly in the room
o Attempting to invent a route to a unified theory of science
2. Logical
o Believed that if you start with clear and simple truths, you could derive more complex truths by
inference or deduction
3. Procedural
o Provided rules for deduction
Never accept anything for true which you didn’t clearly know to be such
Divide each difficulty under examination into as many parts as possible
Complete easier difficulties first – rebuild in an organized fashion starting with the easiest
problem and working your way up
Make numerations so complete and reviews so general you could make sure nothing was
omitted
4. Rationalistic
o Believed truth could be known through reason
o Equalizer of all people- people are equal in their ability to reason
First deconstructionist
o Doubt!
He applied his method to see what could be doubted and what could not
o Cogito ego sum
“I think, therefore I am” (If I can think, then I must exist)
Cannot doubt the existence of his own mind as a thinking being
Mind and Body and the Clockwork Organism Dualism
Clear distinction between body and mind
o Body is matter (extended substance: takes up space)
o Mind is immaterial – not made of atoms, didn’t obey the laws of matter and did not have
extension
Mind
Invisible unity but have different functions
Functions include:
o Desiring (motivation)
o Feeling
o Perceiving
o Imagining
o Above all, thinking (unique to mind)
Self as mind, not body
2 types of ideas:
o Derived ideas: result of sensory experience – prone to error just like the senses are
o Innate ideas: did not rely on sensory experience – the self, God, and the axioms of geometry
Proof of the existence of God
o Imperfect beings could have perfect ideas (e.g., the perfect sphere) but an imperfect being could
not possibly be the author of those perfect ideas – the author of the ideas must be perfect, and
therefore God must be perfect
o This must be true because God would never deceive us
Verity of innate ideas
Sensations don’t lie in objects, th
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