01:730:103 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - René Descartes, God, Foreigner Universe
12 Oct 2018
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01:730:103
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
1. The goal of the Meditations is to "commenc[e] anew the work of building from the
foundation" in order to "establish a firm […] superstructure in the sciences" . In the next
few paragraphs Descartes explains the method he is going to use to demolish all
previous beliefs and find the true foundation of science. What is this method?
a. Descartes talks about finding a true foundation of science and the method he
mentions is first looking at the previous opinions and attacking the principal that
his previous opinions were based on. He wants to first distinguish the old one
and their bases and then move on to the new opinions. “I shall only in the first
place attack those principle upon which all my former opinion rested.”
(Descartes, paragraph 3).
b. The way he is going to distinguish between the truth and the lie is that whichever
idea is minimally doubted, he is going to regard that as false. The truth will
consist of no doubt.
2. In Meditation One Descartes raises doubts about the existence of the external world.
What is the source of knowledge that according to Descartes is unable to justify our
belief in the existence of an external world? Think about the examples he gives.
a. The source that Descartes think is unable to justify our belief in the existence of
an external world is our perception and our senses. He thinks that our senses
deceive us and therefore not trustful and the things we perceive the way we do
by our senses are not the way they are. The examples he uses basically try to
explain how do are we so sure of what we actually are, we can be anything else,
but the only way we are so asure of the thing that we are human is because of
how we perceive ourselves and the understanding we have of ourselves. “And
how I deny that these hands and this body are mine, were it not perhaps that I
could compare myself to certain persons, devoid of sense...or that they are
clothed in purple when they are really without covering, or who imagine that they
have an earthenware head or are nothing but pumpkins or are made of glass.”
(Descartes, paragraph 5)
3. How exactly does Descartes argue that the experience of dreaming provides reason to
doubt the existence of physical objects?
a. Descartes mentions himself dreaming of him sitting by the fireplace and sitting
like he usually does. He argues the point, how can he distinguish when he is
dreaming and when he is awake. In his dreams, he feels very much same as he
does when he is awake. These feeling makes it hard to distinguish reality from
the illusions of dreams. How do we know, that we are still not in a dream and all
of this is not some dream in the end. This creates doubt about existence of
physical objects, because how do we know the objects are even tangible or not,
or are they just illusions created by our mind. Our hands or our limbs are even a
thing or they are just a figment of our imagination that we perceive as very real.
“Now let us assume that we are asleep and that all these particulars, e.g. that we
open our eyes, shake our hand...are fake delusions...possibly our hands nor our
whole body are such as they appear us to be..that in this way those general
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things at least, i.e. eyes, a head, hands, and a whole body, are not imaginary
things, but things really existent.” (Descartes, paragraph 7)
4. One of Descartes' claims is that "there exist no certain marks by which the state of
waking can ever be distinguished from sleep" Do you agree with this claim? Explain your
answer. If you answer is "No" try to imagine how Descartes may reply to you.
a. I actually agree with this claim because I myself have experience several times
where in my sleep I can’t figure out if I am dreaming or awake and sometimes I
can’t tell a difference between a dream and real life. Most often, my dreams
seem so real that when I do wake up, I often wonder if the dream was a dream or
an actual event. Their have been times that I had deja-vu’s of things but they
have been more linked to my dreams. There have been stories and movies
where this idea has been applied, where their is no clear line between the
dreams and reality of a person.
5. Towards the end of Meditation One, Descartes introduces the possibility of a "malignant
demon." What kind of scenario does the "malignant demon" argument introduce? How
does this argument differ from the dream argument.
a. The scenario the “malignant demon” argument introduces is that just as God is a
entity who has control over many things, there is an entity who is just as powerful
and its job is to deceive. All the concepts of heavens, the earth and colors, they
are just false ideologies and concept fed to us by this powerful entity. Even
though, we know that having hands, feets and all the other body parts are just
illusions, we must still believe this idea because we have no other choice. This is
very different from the dream argument because in the dream argument, it brings
awareness to illusions of reality and how it’s hard to distinguish the line between
the dream and reality. Whereas in this argument, even though we are aware of
the illusion of the reality, we must still believe in this illusion because we do not
have much of a choice.
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