Descartes

1
Descartes
Cogito ergo sum

• Lauren Dobbs

2
Bio

• Descartes was a French born philosopher from the
  1600s.
• Hes most famous for his Meditations on First
  Philosophy Which consists of six different
  meditations
• He originally became a lawyer but changed into
  philosophy.

3
General Philosophy

• Descartes main belief was that nothing is true
  if you dont exist. Because you exist things are.
  His second meditation Concerning the Nature of
  the Human Mind That It Is Better Known Than the
  Body says that everything we know comes from our
  mind because there is no external world without
  you. Except later in his meditations he finds
  Dualism, which means a body can exist without a
  mind and a mind without a body. He believed that
  there was perfection within everyone although no
  one was perfect

4
Body vs. Mind

• He believed in two different substances, thinking
  (res cogitans) and extended (res extensa).
• Thinking substances are split into infinite (God)
  and finite (the mind)
• There was only one extended substance, finite,
  which connects the physical to our minds.
• There are many different thinking substances
  possibly an infinite number

5
Religious Beliefs

• In meditation three Descartes comes to the
  conclusion that God does exist.
• He believed that the idea of God was innate (born
  within us), not factitious (invented from our
  imagination), or adventitious (from the outside
  world).

6
Arguments
1. Something can not come from nothing. 2. The
cause of an idea must have at least as much
formal reality as the idea has objective reality.
3. I have in me an idea of God. This idea has
infinite objective reality. 4. I cannot be the
cause of this idea, since I am not an infinite
and perfect being. I don't have enough formal
reality. Only an infinite and perfect being could
cause such an idea. 5. So God a being with
infinite objective reality must exist (and be
the source of my idea of God). 6. An absolutely
perfect being is a good, benevolent being. 7. So
God is benevolent... 8. So God would not deceive
me, and would not permit me to error without
giving me a way to correct my errors.

• Descartes had two arguments for why God exists.

Formal reality is how much reality something
seems to have
Objective reality is how real things are.
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Argument 2

• 1. I exist.
• 2. My existence must have a cause.
• 3. The only possible ultimate causes are
• a) myself
• b) my always having existed
• c) my parents
• d) something less perfect than God
• e) God
• 4. Not a. If I had created myself, I would have
  made myself perfect.
• 5. Not b. This does not solve the problem. If I
  am a dependent being, I need to be continually
  sustained by another.
• 6. Not c. This leads to an infinite regress.
• 7. Not d. The idea of perfection that exists in
  me cannot have originated from a non-perfect
  being.
• 8. Therefore, e. God exists.

8
Descartes vs. Plato

• Both Descartes and Plato put reason at the center
  of their philosophies.
• Both also believe in God.
• The two differ in their ideas of Utopia.
• The ideas of what is real differ slightly
  Platos Allegory of the Cave and Descartes metal
  view.

9
Sense Perception

• Descartes viewed sense perception as unreliable.
• He said we cant trust them because what we
  perceive could be like wax.
• Wax can be solid or liquid, hot or cooled, and
  the smells can differ. But just because those
  factors change doesnt mean it is no longer wax.
  We need our mind to tell us this not our senses.

10
Bibliography

• "Meditation II by Rene Descartes." Oregon State
  University. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. lthttp//oregonstate
  .edu/instruct/phl302/texts/descartes/meditations/M
  editation2.htmlgt.
• "SparkNotes Descartes (1596-1650) Themes,
  Arguments, and Ideas." SparkNotes Today's Most
  Popular Study Guides. Web. 15 Feb. 2011.
  lthttp//www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/descartes/th
  emes.htmlgt.
• Descartes, Rene. "Descartes - Degrees of
  Reality." Trinity University Welcome. Web. 15
  Feb. 2011. lthttp//www.trinity.edu/cbrown/modern/d
  escartes-Reality.htmlgt.
• "René Descartes." Wikipedia, the Free
  Encyclopedia. Web. 15 Feb. 2011.
  lthttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/René_Descartesgt.