Can Descartes be certain that he is thinking? How? Can he be certain that he exists? How? (And who is he?) Descartes" statement "I think therefore I exist" raises questions about the meaning of thought, the meaning of existence but most fundamentally, in what sense he can be certain. The difficulty in establishing the certainty of "I think" and "I exist" is that the two concepts are interrelated. Thus, for example, differing interpretations of what it is to think will have a profound impact on the question of whether Descartes can achieve the certainty of his existence. The success of his atte...

• Word Count: 1657
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... began to write his three famous books, Discourse on Method, Meditations on First Philosophy and Principles of Philosophy where his passion for philosophy and mathematics could shine. In my term paper, I will be focusing on specific passages from Meditations on First Philosophy, which was written in 1641. Meditations on First Philosophy is a discussion of metaphysics, or what is real. In these writings, he ultimately hopes to ... be originated from a perfect source or God." Another way which Descartes proves the existence of God is through an "Ontological" proof. This states that an esse...

• Word Count: 1700
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... not depend on things that exist in the universe. This is further support to the reliability of our scientific truths because our execution of science in nature revolves greatly around the principles of the truly infallible mathematics. Our scientific truths, however unfailing they may seem, even by definition in science, they are not considered to be absolutely certain for everything. Luckily we live in ... a habitual society and chaos doesn't throw all of our findings out the window. Hume states that we are all creatures of custom. Therefore we are safe with our scientific truths becau...

• Word Count: 1541
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... not depend on things that exist in the universe. This is further support to the reliability of our scientific truths because our execution of science in nature revolves greatly around the principles of the truly infallible mathematics. Our scientific truths, however unfailing they may seem, even by definition in science, they are not considered to be absolutely certain for everything. Luckily we live in ... a habitual society and chaos doesn't throw all of our findings out the window. Hume states that we are all creatures of custom. Therefore we are safe with our scientific truths becau...

• Word Count: 1525
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... let as many desires as possible be satisfied. Any modern moral theory is adherent to this principle of subjective utilitarianism. According to DesCartes the central concept of Philosophy is the first person point of view. DesCartes evolved philosophy by theorizing that the conscious self is at the center of any philosophical perception. His theories on fundamental thought have been influential to countless great thinkers including ... lives to fit their preferences to form a more virtuous society as a whole. The idea that all of our moral and ethical goods are conducive at making people ...

• Word Count: 2303
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... perfection then you are a fool. By this, Gaunilo is trying to criticize the process by which Anselm moves from his definition of God to his suggestion of God's existence. Of course Gaunilo has a point: If the idea that a type of thing "than which no greater could be conceived" must necessarily exist, might this not apply to the most perfect potato or the greatest monkey? Aquinas ... and therefore there are also no sides. He said that in the same way, if you don't accept the concept of God in the first place, it is a useless argument. Further criticism comes from the Empiricist David Hum...

• Word Count: 662
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to unexplained questions, while never providing answers to the questions about God himself. This is evidenced a great deal in the circular argument made by Descartes in the Meditations on First Philosophy. What follows is a brief account of the third and fifth meditations, which provide Descartes' response to the masked question, "What is God?" Can one perceive or confirm the existence ... scripture that has been deemed to come from your god is also the proof that God exists. This is the type of circular definition that Descartes is trying to avoid at all costs. Basically, it's like usi...

• Word Count: 1331
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to empiricism. Mathematics isn't really knowledge about any matter of fact. It is only a game of symbol, nothing about existence. Like logic it is a demonstrative science, mathematical truths are true by definition. Berkeley's radical opposition to the received view of mathematics in the philosophy of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, when mathematics was considered a "science of abstractions." Since this view seriously conflicted with Berkeley's critique ... of abstract ideas. Berkeley has unique treatments of geometry and arithmetic and his famous critique of the ca...

• Word Count: 2949
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate