Group 1, Section 1

Double Rainbow!

Here is the double post, as promised, although it won't be as fun as a double rainbow. The first discussion round was about the Scientific Revolution:

Factual:
Which was Descartes' first writing?
A. The Meditations
B. The World
C. Saggiatore
D. Tractatus Theologico-Politicus

Discussion:
Descartes stated that, "now some years since I detected how many were the false beliefs that I had from my earliest youth admitted as true and how doubtful was everything I had since constructed on this basis".
How can you relate this to people these days? (following the beliefs constructed in our youth, and sticking to those beliefs)

My own personal reaction to this discussion question is that I believe if you are raised/taught one certain belief, it'd be much harder to believe in another, conflicting belief. That makes sense because our primary socialization is key. It is much harder to shake something we were taught when we were kids than something we are taught when we're older (the whole mind is a sponge thing comes into play here). I also think that whoever teaches us these beliefs are most likely passionate about it, so it would be harder to cut those ties when you're older because not only does it seem we were "born" that way, but if we're against it, it's almost as if we're going against someone who played a major role in our lives. Didn't Maimonides struggle with this too?

For the Enlightenment, we ironically didn't discuss it as much. Guess we're not so enlightened.
Factual:
Q: True or False: In Paris, Salons were the great theaters of philosophy and conversation.
A: True

Discussion:
In Helvetius's Essays On the Mind, he claims that a "nonreligious morality is what really guided most people's virtues." Do you agree with this? What do people base their morals off of without religion?

We didn't really talk about this question (too busy discussing how to get enlightened in these modern times with Dr. Oliver) that I think it'd be interesting to see what we all have to say about this question.
Personally, I don't know the answer to this question. I wasn't raised religious, so my being moral isn't directly related to religion. However, the mom and her mom and so forth has varying degrees of religious affiliations so maybe the morals based off religion trickled down. I think my morality is independent from an "all-knowing God" and maybe that's what Helvetius was going for. Am I more moral because I'm not being nice or what have you to please a higher deity? (And for all those who want to pounce me for this, please note I'm not saying I am). Earlier in the semester we discussed the difference between morals and virtues because in PW it said one philosopher believed them to be different. All in all, this question, like most in philosophy, does not have a true, set answer.