Descartes Essay

x Rene Descartes and John Locke, both seventeenth century philosophers, have their own individual views and opinions pertaining to particular subjects such as the origin of ideas. Both of these philosophers attempt to find answers to many of the same questions in epistemology as well as metaphysics. While Descartes is a rationalist, Locke is an imperialist; his ideas come from experience. Locke and Descartes have differing views on various multiple subjects, but both philosophers support…

I will outline two related skeptical arguments made by Montaigne, explicate them, and then provide Descartes response to these arguments, followed by a brief examination to determine which argument hold more persuasive power. I will begin by outlining two arguments presented by Montaigne, and then expand upon them to better explain their meaning and significance. The first argument I will discuss is the seventh argument presented by Montaigne in his work on skepticism, and proceeds as…

supremely perfect being” (Hick 18). The main premise of Descartes’s argument is that God’s existence can be deducted from the nature of God. Descartes used the analogy of a triangle to propose that, if the idea of a triangle can be deduced from the nature of shapes, then the idea of God can be deduced from the nature of existence. This main premise of Descartes argument seems to presume that because the idea of God can be perceived as an absolute perfect being, then existence is a predicate…

René Descartes’ dream argument supports his overarching argument for hyperbolic doubt, described in his Meditations on First Philosophy. The dream argument questions one’s perceptions, conscious and unconscious, and how one determines what is true and what is false. He does this by comparing experiences while awake or dreaming. Descartes continues on that since one also cannot tell the difference between what is a dream and what is real life, our perceptions could overall be false, and “assumes…

Descartes is trying to prove the existence of God, and the reason he is doing so he can further try to prove the existence of everything else. He did so by going through a series of meditations. In his fifth meditation Descartes said that the mind and the body are two distinct substances. His main premise was Cogito Ergo Sum which means I think therefore I am. With Cogito Ergo Sum he is certain of his existence. He differentiates understanding a concept and imagination, then goes onto say that…

Philosophy. Dubbed the “Father of Modern Philosophy”, Descartes was a philosopher in Sweden who taught others philosophy, and was also a huge advocate for mathematics, specifically geometry. He doubts everything that his senses inform his of, and even the reasoning procedure, because he wants to conquer skepticism. He knows, however, that he is real because he has the ability to think. By looking at Meditations of First Philosophy by Descartes, one can see that knowledge can’t…

Descartes: Proofs for God existence and the nature of human’s mistakes Rene Descartes, a famous French philosophy, was known as “the Father of modern philosophy”. With his formidable and broad knowledge, Descartes fostered his desire to seek for only true beliefs that were certain and indubitably true. In his work, the Rene Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes reiterated his intellectual process of doubting and questioning all the essences of corporeal and intangible…

Rene Descartes published his Meditations back in 1641, eight years after Galileo discovered that the Earth was not the center of the universe but, in fact, the sun was the center. This shook many people’s ideologies on what they knew on religion, their senses, and what it meant to gain knowledge. While Rene Descartes is very well known for his Cogito erg Sum ( I think therefore I am), he also came up with a theory of Substance Dualism. Substance Dualism is Rene Descartes way of explaining the…

Can we even exist without a mind or without a body? Rene Descartes’ theory of “Mind-Body Dualism” discusses such philosophical questions and claims that although our mind and bodies are synced, they are not similar by way of division. Many questions remain on how “Mind-Body Dualism” works, many of which will be discussed in this paper, beginning with Descartes’ theory and the logic behind his reasoning. I will then discuss why Descartes believes that the mind is indivisible and why he believes…

may seem quite similar, or even the same, at first glance; however, I believe them to be two different things. With the support of Descartes’ Discourse on Method, it is evident that Descartes also agrees that self-rule and independence are quite different: one implies ignorance, while the other implies a knowledge and understanding of principles. I believe that Descartes agrees with the argument that independence implies ignorance and self-rule is knowing certain principles for oneself, based on…