Descartes Essay

Rene Descartes, also known as the “father of modern philosophy”, was a rationalist and epistemologist. A seventeenth century philosopher, Descartes quest for the truth caused him to create a lasting system that affected epistemological and subjective turns. In the epistemological turn, Descartes conveys the idea that one must account for what they know before they can talk about what is real; similarly, in the subjective turn, Descartes reveals the idea that subjective experience is the most…

philosophies surrounding the concept of the soul while later chapters have sought to reconcile recent discoveries in neuroscience with common theory. Within these chapters the authors presented a “physicalist” understanding of the soul, contrary to Descartes’ dualist view of the brain/soul. Though neuroscience research has not declaratively disproved the dualistic theory of brain/mind, chapter 8 explores the implications of alternative brain/soul views. Neuroscientists seem to be in agreement…

I will analyze Descartes’ Indivisibility Argument for Mind/Body Dualism. Descartes’ argument is deductively valid and deductively sound since all premises support the conclusion therefor all of the premises are true. I validate Descartes’ Indivisibility Argument for Mind/Body Dualism by using each premise in the argument and how each premise is a strong back bone why the conclusion is true. Also having awareness of the other side of the argument and using strong counter arguments to build up an…

In Discourse on Method and Related Writings author René Descartes explains how he developed his unique and, especially for his time, unconventional reasoning in an autobiographical style. The story of his intellectual development is an unconventional one, and he describes how his revolutionary method had transformed him into the distinguished and ever prevalent philosopher that we know him to be today. It is apparent that Descartes was the black sheep of his class, using other methods and…

Descartes was a French philosopher who is considered today as the “Father of Modern Philosophy”. Descartes often fought with the idea of this thing called Skepticism, which is the philosophical position that knowledge is impossible. This did not sit well with Descartes so he decided to write a book called “The Meditations on First Philosophy” as a guide book to the truth. Descartes’ two main aims with this book were first, to address and defeat skepticism, and second, to attain perfect knowledge…

Rene Descartes was one of the famous mathematicians and philosophers. Descartes was considered the “father of modern philosophy.” (1) He was born in France in the sixteenth century. He got his education in France. Besides his many accomplishments in mathematics, he discovered “analytic geometry” (2) with a contribution from Galileo. In philosophy, he used suspicion and reason to find the truths. He used this technique to make philosophy as strong as the mathematics. His technique made him never…

possibility of an after-life. Plato and Descartes are notorious for substance dualism which is also known as mind-body dualism, the believe that the soul is able to live on without the presence of the physical substance, the body. In this essay I will describe and assess the argument of substance dualism postulated by Rene Descartes (1596-1650). My thesis is that Descartes’ argument for substance dualism is not very persuasive and Gilbert Ryle manages…

How would you even begin a review of arguably the most important work, and thinker, responsible for the turn in Modern European Philosophy? Perhaps by acknowledging that Descartes is important, not for what he “thought” was “indubitable,” but for the dialogue he started about what he necessarily conceived, as such, being demonstrably wrong. I think that is a fair statement, and I have no intention of expounding upon that for this review. My intent is not to abuse or discredit him, but instead…

Throughout his “Meditations” Descartes will demonstrate that he is breaking away from the traditional way of thinking and metaphysics. And, throughout the text Descarte will lay out a foundation to a different way of thinking. One in which one does not solely rely on the senses to know things, but instead rely on an inspection of the mind. But, this conflicts with other philosophers of Descartes time, and it conflicts with what is being taught within the schools, Around Descartes time, many of…

sense. Descartes believed that there are solely two substances to ever exist, mind and matter. Descartes supposed that the body is nothing but a statue or a machine where the way the body functions can be accounted for mechanically except for the activities of the mind where none can be seen, touched, smelled, tasted or heard. Along with sensation, Descartes believes that the mind also influences the body through emotions and feelings. This theory is called “Dualism”, introduced by Descartes,…