Descartes Prelim Notes

Descartes Question: Is Descartes successful in overcoming his doubts about the senses?

Intro: - Descartes’ (1596-1650) significant questioning of Aristotle’s, Plato’s beliefs - First philosopher mind-body problem - Identity mental not material (unlike Thomas Aquinas) - Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) - Extreme scepticism, not sceptic - 4 doubts (disagreement of the learned, deceit of the senses, dream & demon arguments) on sources of groups of beliefs, not individual

Main body: “I realised that it was necessary once in the course of my life to demolish everything completely and start again right from the foundations if I wanted to establish anything at all in the sciences that was stable and likely to last.” (First Meditation) - Senses usually right but we can’t be certain – example: defected retina “I have sometimes found that these senses played me false, and it is prudent never to trust entirely those who have once deceived us.” - Dream argument: “How often, asleep at night, am I convinced of just such familiar events-that I am

here in my dressing gown, sitting by the fire-when in fact I am lying undressed in bed!” – Descartes “…it is usually easy to distinguish dreams from reality because dreams are full of weird ideas.” - Nigel Warburton - Divine guarantee. Still potential certainties: math, external world (dreams must be like real world else how can we fathom the images?) “…can one ask oneself to imagine one is dreaming unless one is certainly conscious?” – Norman Malcolm - Demon Argument: Deceiving demon of utmost power and cunning. Ultimate in scepticism. Sturdier than Dream; dualism – demon could exploit link. Could deceive us of anything – nothing certain. Knowledge through senses & through reasoning separate e.g. Leibniz’ vérités de fait and vérités de reason. Analytic statements e.g. “The Princess is the daughter of the Queen” seem certain. - Descartes’ belief in God: Would not allow demon, being supremely good. Conclusion: - Descartes felt he succeeded but belief in the Divine Guarantee was necessary. “to complete the sceptic outlook one must commit suicide” – Friedrich Hegel