PHILOS 25B Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Circular Reasoning, Philosophical Skepticism
Document Summary
Meditation iii: the cosmological proof and clear and. Recap: levels of formal reality (not just a scale of reality, but also a scale of perfection) Modes: objective reality ideas have both formal reality and objective reality. Objective reality of an idea depends on the formal reality of the thing represented by the idea. Q: how does descartes get this principle: a: clarity and distinctness compel the will into believing things. Could it be that the evil genius is making me think something is clear and distinct when it isn"t: a: to solve this problem, we must prove the existence of a benevolent, non-deceiving god. This can then be used to guarantee the truth of our perceptions: causal argument (basic framework): (1) i have an idea of god. (2) there are certain causal principles, everything has a cause. b. If something is the complete cause of something else, it must have at least as much reality as the thing it causes.
