Philosophy- Descartes
- Created by: ellend49
- Created on: 11-12-18 13:14
Fullscreen
Descartes- metaphysics- an introduction to Descartes
- Descartes Meditations- marks a turning point between medieval and early modern philosophy.
- much philosophy now is to do with Descartes discussed
- comes after the "Dark ages"- a lack of significant latin liturature
- scholastic philosophy dominating late medieval universities was not great- a combination of catholic theology and aristotle + ancient Greek culture ALSO relied a lot on Christian culture- "God exists, we just need to prove it" - humans are made in God's image and God's chosen people
- Descartes- not fully a faithful man!
- Skepticism- systematic attacks on the idea that we can know things- we are discussing philosophical skepticism here
- Global skepticism- PYRRHORISM- we can never have any knowledge
- Limited skepticism- there are certain things that we cannot know-i.e we cannot answer metaphysical questions
- The likes of Sam Harris and Dawkins were skeptical about the value of religion- SCIENTIFIC DOGMATICS- "the problem is, religion gives people bad reasons to be good"- harris
- The ancient sceptics would not have liked this- God was central
- Descartes however, NOT A SKEPTIC- he does not believe that knowledge is possible
- he purely uses the techniques of sceptism ( Hyperbolic sceptism)
- Descartes was a FOUNDATIONALIST- knowledge must rest on a foundation of certainty
- he is not contradicting himself, simply taking us on his metaphysical journey!
- His medidation- concerns things that " can be called into doubt"
- He is NOT out to prove that every single piece of knowledge is incorrect- more trying to establish if there is truly anything we can ever be certain of
- Dogmatist-…
Comments
No comments have yet been made