Up@dawn 2.0

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Section 14 Group 3 (9/20)

Hello all. This is Kendall filling in for Nikki today. So today we talked about Descartes and decided that he had a rather confusing and somewhat contradictory idea of the world and God. He wanted to find one thing that he could be absolutely certain was true, because if there is any doubt about something, there is a chance that it may not be true regardless of how little doubt there is. Like the fact that you could be having a very realistic dream about reading this post, not actually reading it.  There is no real way to prove that you're awake, maybe you're being tricked by a clever and fiendish demon into thinking that you're reading this, but you're actually asleep. Or just a brain sitting in a jar in the laboratory of a mad scientist.
While you may not be sure that you are awake, you know that you exist because you are capable of having that thought. "I think, therefore I am" is Descartes most famous quote meaning that because we are capable of having a thought or capable of being tricked by a demon, then we must exist because if we didn't, there would be no thought and nothing to trick.
The contradictory portion of this thought comes with the existence of God. In general, is there doubt that God exists? Yes. So wouldn't that mean that we can't be sure about God? No, because according to Descartes simply because we have the thought of God is enough proof of his existence. Dr. Oliver told us that some people say that Descartes way of thinking is a circle. We think God exists because God gave us that thought. Because God is perfect and good, he wouldn't deceive us into thinking he existed if he didn't. Which comes back to the thought of God means he exists.
In conclusion, we may all be pickled brains sitting on a shelf in some lab, but we know we exist in some form because we can have the thought of "I wonder if I'm a brain in a jar." And that's all I got.

2 comments:

  1. Kendall Martin 147:36 PM CDT

    So here are questions on Locke and Reid:

    True or false. Locke's views influenced the founding fathers who wrote the U.S. Constitution.

    Locke said that when we get older, we are no longer the same person we were when we were younger. We may be the same "man" or "woman," but not the same person. Do you agree with this?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cody Peach 145:28 PM CDT

    Locke and Reid:

    Factual-
    What is the idea of more than one person inhabiting the body of one individual is known as?
    A: Multiple Personality Disorder

    Thought-
    Are there any similarities or differences in the ideas of Descartes and Locke?

    ReplyDelete

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