René Descartes

Searle and Descartes being separated by nearly four centuries provides a rough landscape for a philosophical discussion to be conducted upon. Both Searle and Descartes have inherent biases based upon their location on the timeline, Searle with modern science and Descartes with religion and the church. Being that the two are opposed, I think that Searle is able to articulate effectively his positions and respond to Descartes’ claims properly. If positioned at the same location along the timeline…

Descartes Evil Demon argument as discussed above is depicted in the film where the evil machines are the evil demon deceiving the humans into thinking what they perceive is reality in the vat. Descartes Dream Argument “…claims that dreams and waking life can have the same content. Descartes alleges [there is] a sufficient similarity between the two experiences for dreamers to be routinely deceived…

more complex beings than just thinking things. First, I will demonstrate what the second meditation, its fifth objection, and Descartes reply are instructing on. Then I will address the cogito and how it does not prove the existence of the nature of humans, as Descartes’s believes it does. Finally, I will show how the reply does not meet the requirements…

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…

philosopher Descartes wrestled with similar questions. He was concerned about the nature of our reality and more specifically the nature of our knowledge. (Descartes 166-167) He wanted to form a base for knowledge and a method to prove that what we know is true. Therefore, I believe that Descartes would respond to this problem by proving we have some base knowledge and by making an argument against this idea, however I do not think his theories can prove all of our knowledge. Descartes did not…

The unique and foremost influence to psychology that Descartes had was his consideration of the mind-body interaction. Descartes lived as a French philosopher and mathematician who; in the early 17th century, agreed with the notion of a clockwork universe. According to the text, this notion of the times proposed that the universe could be likened to a clock due to the fact of its constancy, predictability, and exactitude. The clock could act as an allegory to expound upon the workings of the…

In this essay, I outline two similarities of Descartes and Spinoza—belief in apriori knowledge, and God as the infinite substance—as well as two differences—contrasting conceptions of God’s relation to the world, and mind-body relations. Both Spinoza and Descartes subscribe to the rationalist epistemology which claims that knowledge must be self-evident and derived from reasoning, rather than experience. As such, both philosophers believe in apriori knowledge, in which true knowledge is derived…

modern philosophy, Descartes and Locke feud over the definition of these ideas, the acquisition of these concepts, and the content of these thoughts. Descartes identifies with a rationalistic view where knowledge is based on innate ideas and these ideas are acquired through reason, whereas Locke believes in empirical explanations which state that ideas are formulated from sensory experiences with the outside world. In many of Descartes’ works, he emphasizes the importance of…

the laws of physics which do not allow something without matter to move something with matter. The body, which is a material substance, is moved by the mind, which is an immaterial substance. The reasoning behind this is the argument proposed by Descartes, known as Cartesian dualism, which claims that the mind and body interact. Premises 1 and 2 defy the the law of noncontradiction, which states that the conclusion must either be or not be something (p or not p). Therefore, due to premises two…

of their way to find the facts and the reality of the situation. In a sense, human beings are on a constant quest for the truth, without truly realizing it. However, two famous philosophers did notice this unforeseen quest: Rene Descartes and William James. Rene Descartes delves deeper into the topic of the truth in his philosophical work, “Discourse on Method,” whereas William James further explores the truth, from a distinct perspective, in his philosophical works, “What Pragmatism Means,” and…