Descartes Essays (4719 words) - Epistemologists, Metaphysicians

Descartes How does Descartes try to extricate himself from the sceptical doubts that he has raised? Does he succeed? by Tom Nuttall [All page references and quotations from the Meditations are taken from the 1995 Everyman edition] In the Meditations, Descartes embarks upon what Bernard Williams has called the project of 'Pure Enquiry' to discover certain, indubitable foundations for knowledge. By subjecting everything to doubt Descartes hoped to discover whatever was immune to it. In order to best understand how and why Descartes builds his epistemological system up from his foundations in the way that he does, it is helpful to gain an understanding of the intellectual background of the 17th century that provided the motivation for his work. We can discern three distinct influences on Descartes, three conflicting world-views that fought for prominence in his day. The first was what remained of the mediaeval scholastic philosophy, largely based on Aristotelian science and Christian theology. Descartes had been taught according to this outlook during his time at the Jesuit college La Flech_ and it had an important influence on his work, as we shall see later. The second was the scepticism that had made a sudden impact on the intellectual world, mainly as a reaction to the scholastic outlook. This scepticism was strongly influenced by the work of the Pyrrhonians as handed down from antiquity by Sextus Empiricus, which claimed that, as there is never a reason to believe p that is better than a reason not to believe p, we should forget about trying to discover the nature of reality and live by appearance alone. This attitude was best exemplified in the work of Michel de Montaigne, who mockingly dismissed the attempts of theologians and scientists to understand the nature of God and the universe respectively. Descartes felt the force of sceptical arguments and, while not being sceptically disposed himself, came to believe that scepticism towards knowledge was the best way to discover what is certain: by applying sceptical doubt to all our beliefs, we can discover which of them are indubitable, and thus form an adequate foundation for knowledge. The third world-view resulted largely from the work of the new scientists; Galileo, Copernicus, Bacon et al. Science had finally begun to assert itself and shake off its dated Aristotelian prejudices. Coherent theories about the world and its place in the universe were being constructed and many of those who were aware of this work became very optimistic about the influence it could have. Descartes was a child of the scientific revolution, but felt that until sceptical concerns were dealt with, science would always have to contend with Montaigne and his cronies, standing on the sidelines and laughing at science's pretenses to knowledge. Descartes' project, then, was to use the tools of the sceptic to disprove the sceptical thesis by discovering certain knowledge that could subsequently be used as the foundation of a new science, in which knowledge about the external world was as certain as knowledge about mathematics. It was also to hammer the last nail into the coffin of scholasticism, but also, arguably, to show that God still had a vital r_le to play in the discovery of knowledge. Meditation One describes Descartes' method of doubt. By its conclusion, Descartes has seemingly subjected all of his beliefs to the strongest and most hyberbolic of doubts. He invokes the nightmarish notion of an all-powerful, malign demon who could be deceiving him in the realm of sensory experience, in his very understanding of matter and even in the simplest cases of mathematical or logical truths. The doubts may be obscure, but this is the strength of the method - the weakness of criteria for what makes a doubt reasonable means that almost anything can count as a doubt, and therefore whatever withstands doubt must be something epistemologically formidable. In Meditation Two, Descartes hits upon the indubitable principle he has been seeking. He exists, at least when he thinks he exists. The cogito (Descartes' proof of his own existence) has been the source of a great deal of discussion ever since Descartes first formulated it in the 1637 Discourse on Method, and, I believe, a great deal of misinterpretation (quite possibly

Free Essays on The Culture Of Different Times

The Culture of Different Times The legendary story of â€Å"Beowulf† is a classic example of a heroic warrior class figure in an Old English/Anglo Saxon society. He is tough and brutal, noble and heroic. Reading â€Å"Beowulf,† we get a sense of a less human society where fighting for ones honor is what matters the most. On the flip side of that, we see a sort of revolution, a progression towards the â€Å"is† world, in literature. One example of this is â€Å"The Canterbury Tales† by Geoffrey Chaucer. The culture presented in the â€Å"Canterbury Tales† differs from that presented in â€Å"Beowulf† because society has become more humanistic. These people don’t want to start a war, the want to stay alive, start families and raise children. In Chaucer’s time men took pilgrimages, in the time of Beowulf, they fought war. Anglo Saxon culture was a culture of honor, brutality and war. For example, Beowulf was a man who fought because he had to weather it is for his own survival, the survival of his tribe or the strength of his country. Although he knew he was mortal, he fought and fought as if he were sub human. Men with that type of mentality did not speak of their feelings of love or even the feeling of emotional pain unless it was pain caused in a battle, and only that pain was worth mention. This type of behavior was typical of Anglo Saxon times in that men fought till the bitter end and lived in a shame filled culture unlike the guilt culture that became of the Medieval Ages. Medieval culture was quite different compared to Anglo Saxon culture. People in Medieval times seemed more human, and more willing to share their feelings. From reading literature from that time we gain insight into the lives of characters, which in turn allow us to gain insight into the culture of the middle ages. For example, the characters in Chaucer’s â€Å"Canterbury Tales† call to our attention the fact that something has changed. Fighting was not t... Free Essays on The Culture Of Different Times Free Essays on The Culture Of Different Times The Culture of Different Times The legendary story of â€Å"Beowulf† is a classic example of a heroic warrior class figure in an Old English/Anglo Saxon society. He is tough and brutal, noble and heroic. Reading â€Å"Beowulf,† we get a sense of a less human society where fighting for ones honor is what matters the most. On the flip side of that, we see a sort of revolution, a progression towards the â€Å"is† world, in literature. One example of this is â€Å"The Canterbury Tales† by Geoffrey Chaucer. The culture presented in the â€Å"Canterbury Tales† differs from that presented in â€Å"Beowulf† because society has become more humanistic. These people don’t want to start a war, the want to stay alive, start families and raise children. In Chaucer’s time men took pilgrimages, in the time of Beowulf, they fought war. Anglo Saxon culture was a culture of honor, brutality and war. For example, Beowulf was a man who fought because he had to weather it is for his own survival, the survival of his tribe or the strength of his country. Although he knew he was mortal, he fought and fought as if he were sub human. Men with that type of mentality did not speak of their feelings of love or even the feeling of emotional pain unless it was pain caused in a battle, and only that pain was worth mention. This type of behavior was typical of Anglo Saxon times in that men fought till the bitter end and lived in a shame filled culture unlike the guilt culture that became of the Medieval Ages. Medieval culture was quite different compared to Anglo Saxon culture. People in Medieval times seemed more human, and more willing to share their feelings. From reading literature from that time we gain insight into the lives of characters, which in turn allow us to gain insight into the culture of the middle ages. For example, the characters in Chaucer’s â€Å"Canterbury Tales† call to our attention the fact that something has changed. Fighting was not t...