Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
“The Silent Architect: Descartes and the Construction of Truth” - Coggle…
“The Silent Architect: Descartes and the Construction of Truth”
First Meditation: Radical Doubt
Falibility of the Senses
Our senses have deceived us before
illusions, misperceptions, etc.
It is not wise to trust them completely
If someting deceives us even once
it cannot be a reliable source of truth
Evil Demon Hypothesis
Suppose there is a powerful, malicious being constantly deceiving us
manipulates thoughts and perceptions
He might make us believe even math or logic is true when it is not
Pushes doubt to the maximum to find one certain truth
Indistinguishability Between Sleep and Wakefulness
Dreams feel just as real as being awake
There's no definitive way to tell the difference
We cannot trust experience alone
Second Meditation: The Cogito and the Mind
Cogito, ergo sum
Even if I am deeived, I must exist to be deceived
I think, therefore I am
This becomes the first certain and indubitable truth
Mind vs. Body
The body is:
divisible
changeable
corruptible
The Mind is:
indivisible
independent
constant
The mind is known more clearly and certainly that any physical thing
The self is not the body, but a thinking thing
res cogitans
Thinking includes:
Doubting, understanding, affirming, denying, imagining, sensing, etc.
Wax example
Shape when heated
we still recognize as it wax
It's not the senses (sight or touch)
but the intellect and judgment of the mind that allows this recognition
We know the mind better than material things
Third Meditation: God as Foundation
Tyes of thought
ideas
images or representations
volitions
acts of the will
emotions
judgments
Idea of God = Proof
We have an idea of a perfect being (God)
This idea couldn't come from an imperfect being like ourselves
It must have been placed in us by a truly perfect being
Certainity of clear and distinct ideas
Whatever is perceived clearly and distinctly
Must be true
We can only fully trust this if:
God exists and is not a deceiver