PHIL 202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Sidereus Nuncius, Scholasticism, Le Monde
4 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
History of Modern Philosophy
1.19 Lecture Notes – Descartes, First Meditation
Background:
- Born in 1596
- Whe he’s , he’s set to a Jesuit shool for eduatio
o There for 8 years
- Broad education including scholastic philosophy (Christian philosophy and Aristotelian
philosophy)
o Familiar with Christian theology, arguments for the existence of God
- 1618: encounters with difrerent figures in Europe that rekindles his interest in
math/science
- 1619: vision
o Coronation ceremony
o Ruminating about the proper way of philosophical and scientific inquiry
o Three dreams convinces him that all of knowledge and nature is interconnected
– everything is interconnected
o There must be some one system that we can know the proper way of inquiry and
the facts about the world
- 1620: rules for the direction of the mind (an unfinished work) – deals with the question
of what the proper method of scientific inquiry is
- 1628: moves to Holland
- 1629: begins to work on Le Monde (French for The World) – aka Treatise on Light
o Two parts
o Physics, the natural world, writes about light, fire, the elements, how to explain
interactions in the world
o Lomme – mankind
- 1633: Galileo is building better and better telescopes
o Notices unusual things
▪ Sunspots
▪ New stars
▪ Moons around Jupiter
▪ Pulishes The “tarry Messeger ith his oseratios i it
o According to the Aristotelian version of the universe, the heavens do not change
▪ Change occurs in the sublunary realm (on earth)
▪ Galileo’s oseratios otradit the Aristotelia
o “tates that Coperius’s syste as superior to Ptoley’s syste
o Galileo called to Rome by the church to renounce his views
▪ Gets confined to his house
o Descartes gets word of this and does not finish Le Monde because he wants to
avoid the same fate as Galileo
- 1637: Discourse on Method – again about scientific and philosophical methodology
- 1641: Meditations
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Whe(cid:374) he"s (cid:1005)(cid:1004), he"s se(cid:374)t to a jesuit s(cid:272)hool for edu(cid:272)atio(cid:374: there for 8 years. Broad education including scholastic philosophy (christian philosophy and aristotelian philosophy: familiar with christian theology, arguments for the existence of god. 1618: encounters with difrerent figures in europe that rekindles his interest in math/science. 1619: vision: coronation ceremony, ruminating about the proper way of philosophical and scientific inquiry, three dreams convinces him that all of knowledge and nature is interconnected. Everything is interconnected: there must be some one system that we can know the proper way of inquiry and the facts about the world. 1620: rules for the direction of the mind (an unfinished work) deals with the question of what the proper method of scientific inquiry is. 1637: discourse on method again about scientific and philosophical methodology. Aristotle"s supporters, to read it: metaphysical and epistemological account does not want people to realize that the meditations is such. 1643: teaching cartesian philosophy is banned in holland.
