PHIL 130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Determinism, American Philosophy, Computer Program
Document Summary
Sweetman trying to shift the burden of truth. Descartes starts off his multi-step argument with the first premise: If something deceives you, then it is unwise to trust it. Argues that descartes should not trust his senses. Then, descartes introduces a new third premise: States that if things are very small or distant , then they are more likely to be deceived. Therefore, descartes can trust his close-up, obvious senses. The fully developed demon in descartes - if we take it seriously, we can"t even rely on our own reasoning. Can control your perceptions even thoughts of you questioning if you are being deceived could be the deceiver logic ii. This is only valid to question because malcolm has reason to. Believe he could be a brain in a vat because he has seen it done before. We, however, have no reason to believe we are brains in vats. Therefore this is an unanswerable question and pseudo problem .
