René Préval

Reflections on Photography Roland Barthes (1915-80) was a French theorist and philosopher. Camera Lucida Reflections on Photography was his last book published in 1979. This book mainly circulates around the theme of understanding desire and nature of photography. He described that what makes it distinguished it from other arts? What are its benefits and liabilities? He did not focused on the formal aspects (composition) or social uses of the photograph but in actual his intent is on ontological…

Personal identity refers to certain properties that make a person feel a special sense of attachment or ownership. Both philosophers John Locke and Rene Descartes had contrasting views about one’s working mind. Descartes believes that the mind cannot be identical to the body whereas Locke emphasizes that our bodies and mind are the same thing. Locke’s ideas on personal identity are primarily focused on memory, whereas Descartes is focused on the “thinking mind.” The thinking mind is our way of…

Rene Descartes proposes a variant of substance dualism that maintains the equal and distinct existence of physical and mental substances. Descartes (1641) discusses that bodies are physical substances because they extend outward and occupy spatial regions while the human mind is a mental substance because it cannot extend through space (P.165). Descartes also notes fundamental differences on their activities; the human body is passive because it cannot think while the mind can handle complex…

Cavendish addresses the issue of knowledge and dualism in this selection from her work. In this passage she is responding to Descartes dualism and the divide between animal and human consciousness. Descartes is a very strong dualist who believes in human exceptionalism, where humans are the only species who can use the mind, proposing a fundamental difference between the mind and matter. Descartes believes that animals are matter and therefore mechanical beings. This idea of human exceptionalism…

Plato claimed that reason, used in a systematic way, is the best way to live our lives. That we should replace our irrational, mythological and paranormal thinking with rational, philosophical and naturalistic thinking. Plato was a dualist which means he believed that there are two aspects to human beings, an empirical body and a soul which is not of the empirical world; this belief is the core of his theory about body and soul. Plato believed that our body, being empirical, used senses to…

Question 1 In meditation 1 his whole goal was to rethink everything he has learned throughout his life and make sure it was all true. He decided to do this because there were somethings he had learned in childhood that he found out to be false later in life. Descartes decided to breakdown the simplest of opinions because he didn’t trust the way he came about the knowledge. He didn’t trust the way he learned it because he had learned most of his knowledge through his senses, but then he realized…

Art can take form into many shapes with each artists painting in their own unique way. Most painters paint in order to express emotion or draw out sense of desire and wonder for the viewer at hand. Rene Magritte is beyond extraordinary in the sense that he cares not of a ‘deeper meaning’ but instead cares of a ‘deeper mystery’. While his signature paintings focus around his idea that there is more to the eye than what can be seen, he holds a firm grasp on making people question his work whether…

Although René Descartes and John Locke, were both considered great philosophers of their time; they are also well known for their opposing views on the Self. Descartes and Locke, both explored the nature of knowledge and the nature of self. As mentioned in the book, they both shared a scientific perspective in developing knowledge through clear thinking, analysis, and real world observation and experimentation. Descartes and Locke, both attempted to answer the same questions related to knowledge…

Prepared for instructor Mrs. Vafiades 11th Mar 2016 The Blade Runner Movie Summary In the year 2019, Los Angeles has become a dark and distorted city. Rick Deckard an ex cop, is a Blade Runner. Blade runners are people assigned to kill replicants. The replicants are robots that have all physical attributes of human’s beings and can’t be distinguished from humans except for if tests are run. When four replicants committed blood munity on the off World colony, Deckard is called out of…

1. It seems to me that the Descartes main purpose of doubting everything is a way of showing how flawed Skepticism is and how you can defeat it on its own grounds. 2. Descartes’s presents different stages of doubt, this includes: Perceptual beliefs: Could be illusions, hallucinations, or dreams. Memories: The past may have been different than you remember. Calculations: You may have made an error in your calculations. Beliefs concerning math or logic: You may have a feeling of certainty when…