Descartes
- Created by: reayofsunshine
- Created on: 13-02-17 13:11
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- Descartes
- what could be known for certain and what could be treated with skepticism?
- Our senses can deceive us
- So adopted a method called 'hyperbolic doubt'
- Looked at everything he thought that was known and rejected them if there was any doubt of them being the certain truth
- Perhaps they were illusions or dreams
- So adopted a method called 'hyperbolic doubt'
- There is the 'first certainty'
- he could not doubt his own existence as a tinker because he would have to exist as a thinker in order to be able to do the doubting
- "I think therefore I am"
- (Cogito)
- Our senses can deceive us
- In his book 'Mediations' he demonstrated a clear distinction between the soul (mind) and body
- He knew for certain that he had a mind because he could not doubt without one
- But he could not be certain that he had a body
- The body could just be a disembodied thinking thing
- Therefore, the mind and body are disticnt
- Cant doubt minds existence, yet we can doubt the body
- Mind is perculiar
- Cant doubt minds existence, yet we can doubt the body
- We are made of two distinct substances
- Physical Body
- Spiritual Mind
- They cant be the same thing because they both have such different properties
- Extension
- Thought
- Body has different parts (leg, head) but mind doesnt
- Two things could not be identical if they had different properties
- How does the mind and body interact so closely?
- Pineal Gland connects soul and body
- Connecting the material person and immaterial soul
- Pineal Gland connects soul and body
- But he could not be certain that he had a body
- what could be known for certain and what could be treated with skepticism?
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