Descartes: Discourse on Method,(Part I-IV)
Text available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/59/59-h/59-h.htm
Journals due on March 25
Questions for reading guidance:
What’s Descartes’ criterion for truth and knowledge?
What’s Descartes’ method to get such knowledge?
Do you think his method can guarantee the truth?
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ReplyDeleteDescartes search for knowledge starts with a claim of doubt. He doubts his senses, his body, everything he has experienced. In claiming doubt as his first step to knowledge, Descartes did not want to become a skeptic and doubt for the sake of doubting. His main intension in starting with doubt was to allow scientific inquiry to begin. Descartes argues that the idea of something, which exists, must be caused by something, which exists. Something, which exists, cannot be caused by something, which does not exist. Something, which potentially existent, cannot be a cause of the existence of anything. A thing or being must have some actual or formal existence in order to cause another thing or being to exist. Descartes also argues that for any relation of cause and effect to occur between events or things, the cause must have at least as much reality as the effect. All things derive their reality. According to Descartes, the more perfect that something is, the more real that it is. Descartes explains that the cause of an idea must be at least as perfect as the idea. If the idea of a perfect being occurs in an imperfect being, then the idea must derive its reality from a perfect being. Descartes also explains that the idea of perfect being is derived from God. God is perfect Being from which all things derive their reality. Descartes explains that in order to determine the truth of an idea, we must determine to what degree the idea corresponds to reality. Human error is caused by the fact that we, as human beings, do not have an unlimited ability to recognize the truth, and by the fact that we are free to choose either truth or falsehood. According to Descartes, God is perfect and is not the cause of any error. When we think of God, we find no cause of error or falsehood. The reason why we doubt the truth is that we are incomplete in our ability to recognize the truth. We depend for our existence on God, who is complete and independent.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I would like to say that my head hurts from all the reading and running around in my head!
ReplyDeleteSecondly, he seems to take a very scientific approach to things by starting from scratch. Furthermore, he proceeds with uncertainty in order to grab any loose ends his conclusion may have.Although I think he goes a little to far and ends up running in circles(the whole righting in french rather than Latin thing,what was that about?)I didn't believe in his approach to the truth(perhaps lack of understanding from my part?)although it is very interesting to me, in the way he describes the relationship between the body and the minds existence. Moreover, how he ponders that we may be a product of the imagination of a being who has no need of a physical body and only thinks.The whole text is rather very twirling for me and using what very little wisdom that I have(if I have any) acquired in previous discussions such as "apology" the lack of simplicity and practicality tells me this is more of a science fiction novel rather than actual philosophical thoughts of a sophisticated man.but that's just me.please shed some light on this text piece by piece.
Do I think his method can guarantee the truth?
ReplyDeleteI think that everybody has got different methods to know the truth and it is very difficult to say that Descartes’ method can guarantee the truth. Although, Descrates experiences were great, but not so many people would experience a lot in their life like him because people can live avoid experiencing a lot. In his youth, he collected varied experiences by traveling and visiting courts and armies, himself in the different situations into which fortune threw him. Traveling in developing countries by oneself is one of the fruitful ways to get experiences to be spiritually awakened. Without using audio devices people can fully use their five senses then they would know the truth.
(I did not have enough time to fully comprehend the text, I feel, since I was working on my paper, but I will attempt to answer a question regardless.)
ReplyDeleteDescartes' method of understanding the world is not an immediately conventional one; going against the concept of the "many" we've found in our previous readings, Descartes leans towards an individualism, one that states that we all share a good sense yet we use this sense depending on how we are as individuals. Instead of instructing us using a universal method, Descartes posits his own personal method of obtaining knowledge that is completely of his own invention; and it is not exactly the method itself he posits, but the idea that we can and should also create our own individual methods to aid us in our understanding.
The heart of Descartes' method begins with the idea that although we should rely on old knowledge, concept, and opinion (such as the ones found in conventional education, which Descartes received almost royally) we should also continue to study more than just these precedent concepts; we should also study ourselves, the "ones," and "build" new foundations of thought, using our own methods that build upon our universal sense.
I love this individualistic philosophy, yet I am extremely confused by the immediately convoluted nature of the exposition upon his theory; his method is almost mathematical in its execution, and it feels very cold. Discounting all foundations of knowledge and truth because they were not formed by individuals seems almost skeptical in itself, despite his discourse on that very subject; perhaps here is where it drifts too far away from the "many" for me to properly comprehend. We have been taught so far that knowledge and wisdom are very pure, almost divine things that we must chase through questioning; yet, from what I understand so far, Descartes seems less focused on questioning and more on a dissection of every problem, piece by piece, in a sterile, confusing manner. I need some help on this one.
I agree with John about working on the paper and trying to understand the text.
ReplyDeleteWell from what I understand, Descartes is skeptical about the truth and what he has been learning and studying. I suppose we can relate this text to our previous texts, where truth was not defined. We have questioned, what is wisdom, justice, contemplation? Now we must question, what is truth? How can one determine what is true based on what someone else says? I believe that Descartes was trying to question, as John also points out, individuality. I believe everyone is able to relate in some way because there comes a time in everyone's life where you "contemplate" and try to realize yourself and who you are. I believe this is what Descartes meant by writing this text.
Descartes explains that we all have the ability to tell what is the truth from what is fiction but our ability to identify the truth is based on our past experience in life. Descartes considers himself a good thinker through the use of method and goes on to say that you could be a good thinker through the use of method.he goes on to explain that education is important, but it may sometimes conceal the truth so it was most important to study oneself.
ReplyDeleteDescartes goes on to explain method. he says it is good to always doubt and when doubting avoid discrimination and work on the problem until you can prove its true.he also talks about reducing every problem to its simplest part to best understand it. thirdly he says that when working on a problem its best you start from the simplest one till you arrive at the most complex.last he when solving a problem try to do it orderly and not leave anything out.
Descartes talks about the codes to abide by while pursuing the truth. first of all to obey all the rules of his religion and country. secondly to be bold when making decision even when in doubt.third he states that he should try to change himself and also try different en-devours and see which one best suits him.
Descartes tries to show the existence of a soul and god and also contemplates of dreams.he also shows that his ability to doubt has led him to be imperfect but believe that something perfect must exist which is god.his method can be efficient to some extent but for some complex matter like trying to understand god or the existence of something supernatural it may not work.
Courtney Brown
ReplyDeletein this text Descartes attempts to figure out how the human mind really functions. He starts by talking about reason and good sense and how these traits are evident in everybody. We all have the abillity to reason and to develop complex thouhgts, but at the same time peoples differences alters the things we think about and our abilities to use good judgement. At one pooint descartes talkes about his childhood and how learning in a school setting is usefull, but we cant accept eveything we hear or read. Descartes was able to use his critical thinking to weed out information that he didnt agree with. Thats really important in todays society. to many people are quick to accept anything they read or hear without properly thinking it through, and Descartes was trying to combat that. He also makes a a relevant pont about the importance of travel. Through traveling your able to learn about other people, nations, and cultures. descartes thought this was important because your able to take this information of other lands and compare it with your heritage. at the same time he also felt that to much travel could have a negative affect on people because we "become strangers to our native counrty" i once read that travel is the best education and i think Descartes would somewhat agree with that. to my understand he kind of down plays philosophy, stating that its pointless being that every topic will forever be in debate when dealing with philosophy. he chose not to say much being that there are no final conclusions, and topics will stay in debate forever.
Truth and knowledge according to Descartes can be found, not only in the universities and books. But, also outside a classroom, and in society. Being able to get the best of knowledge means being able to comprehend; that our thoughts are not purely concrete. There are also certain types of people that are blinded by the confidence of their reasoning, and then Descartes says, they are not contemplating knowledge and truth at, its best. Also that costumes should be eradicated at the moment we get to develop a criteria of something. Knowledge and truth cannot come to us, unless we clean our prejudices on others, and get to admire with reason; what we are looking for.
ReplyDeleteDescartes says that all that we try to obtain, and seek while we try to proof or discover something. Each single clue that could possible get us to our outcome must be question its validity. This must be done with a degree of a large ability to judge. When judging then; it must not have a precipitated verdict, and must not be based on forms of prejudice. The second is to divide the inquiries we want to resolve. By cutting and moving the questions, some truth can be obtained. If all questions have a uncommon fashion, if then explored, some contrast and similarities might appear, to this Descartes gives credit. The third it’s to organize the ideas we receive while looking for answers, from simplest to complex. In this way we don’t lose track of the doubts, which can be better identified from the common to the bizarre. The fourth he proposes it’s to revise, the mentioned processes, in a way that we can see if any questions were left aside, or to just see if new doubts have occurred, while being away of the investigation.
His method is partly acceptable, there are as he said, more thinkers to come, in maybe 10 years we might find some reasons, not only in texts, but inside our society. He has used good methods on how to get some truth, but his method as well, as many philosophical practices might be left out for many.
As a rationalist, Descartes believed that each personcontains the criteria for truth and knowledge in them. His criterionfor truth and knowledge is well expressed in his early statement, “Ithink, therefore I exist.” It means that whatever we conceive clearlyand distinctly must be true. In other words, nothing could be trueunless we as humans could perceive it. According to Descartes,commonly accepted knowledge must be abandoned in order to arrive atgroundwork for a structure of thought because it relies on thesubjective nature of the senses. He believed that framework needs tobe established on a solid foundation. The existence of God and hisperfection is within his criterion for truth and knowledge.Therefore, his idea of being perfect originated from God since Godhimself was perfect.Descartes believed that the responsibility of finding truthand knowledge comes from the individual themselves, not necessarilyfrom God. He also believed that in order to obtain knowledge, theremust be a rational method for reaching the truth because the use ofthe senses, or any experience cannot be a reliable source. Descartesproposed a mathematical reasoning method, referred to asmethodological doubt, to get such truth and knowledge. The procedurefor the method is: first, accept nothing as true, the second, divideeach of the difficulties, the third, arrange my thoughts in order,beginning with things the simplest and easiest to know, so that onemay then ascend little by little, as it were step by step.It is very hard for me to decide if Descartes’ method canguarantee the truth. First, I was brought up to believe in God andhumans even if later I would be betrayed by them. Therefore, it’s notbeen my practice to doubt things. In other words, I have neverapplied Descartes’ method to search for the truth. Second,considering Descartes’ method right now, I do not think that hismethod can guarantee the truth all the time. His method can be one ofthe outstanding methods searching for the truth, being universallyapplied, but I believe that the truth cannot be always clearly anddistinctively defined by his method. His method may guarantee thetruth only within his criterion for the truth. Even though hesuggests that we better not rely on our senses as being not a reliablesource, most times we depend on our senses in searching for the truthand believe as truth what our senses tell it as truth. Then, we mayneed to go back to the issue about what constitutes the truth.Descartes implies many thoughts in my everyday life, but still it isvery difficult to me.
ReplyDeleteDescartes will study sciences, such as Mathematics which include Geometry and Algebra, also Philosophy, and Theology to set the foundation of his Discourse on the Method.According to him nothing can be consdered true unless it can be never doubted under any conditions.Descartes doubted everything"systematically" to find out if anything is indubitable; his " Cogito ergo sum" ( "I think, therefore I am") is the basis of his method of reflexion in which he brakes down the compex problems to the simple ones easy to clarify. Is this method works? we will find out.
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