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Annotated Bibliography

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Buchdahl, Gerd. “The Relevance of Descartes's Philosophy for Modern Philosophy of Science.” The British Journal for the
History of Science 1.3 (1963): 227-249. JSTOR. Web. 5 Nov 2014

Gerd Buchdahl was a German-English philosopher who was the first lecturer of philosophy of science and history in University of Cambridge, one of the founders of Darwin College and founded the journal Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science. In this paper, Buchdahl listed of Descartes’ shortcomings as a philosopher of science, his knowledge of physics and mathematics, as well as the claims on Descartes’ philosophy. Buchdahl discussed that Descartes’ approach was too ‘rationalistic’ and that many of his critics’ arguments are completely justified. …show more content…

Hay II Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, with a Ph.D in philosophy from Columbia University, and is devoted to studying the philosophy of the seventeenth century—and in particular, the works of René Descartes. In this book, Steven Nadler provides a fascinating portal into Descartes’ life and skilfully presents an introduction to Descartes’ philosophical and scientific ideas. Nadler argues that, although Descartes’ work has been extensively criticized, his thoughts came to dominate the philosophical world, at the time, and can be called the “philosophy of the seventeenth century”. Overall, the source did not seem too biased—Nadler simply provides a biography of René Descartes and thoroughly writes of his ideas and story. The author appeals to a wide audience, due to its simple vocabulary, and it is an extremely helpful source for those who wish to uncover the life of the famous …show more content…

In his book, he revers to René Descartes as the father of modern philosophy and a well known mathematician who introduced many of the concepts and arguments which have served as the foundation of philosophy. Scruton argued that Descartes deserves the renowned prestige accorded to him due to all of his works; like his focused search for methods in all branches of human analysis. Compared to the rest of the philosophers mentioned in his book, Scruton seemed to be in great favour of Descartes—it was evident that he liked the philosopher, and may have provided a slight bias towards him. Nevertheless, the book is an excellent source for those seeking a short and intelligible introduction to the ideas of René Descartes, and many other famous philosophers, and it is both a great source for philosophy students and the general

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895 Words | 4 Pages

As time went from the 16th century to the 18th century, the Renaissance thinking transformed to the Scientific Revolution. Soon, it would enable a worldview in which people were not invoking the principles of religion as often as the Renaissance. As an example, these natural philosophers, known as scientists today, developed a new thinking in which the world was no longer geocentric. The thought of an Earth-centered universe as the Bible would say, transformed as heliocentric or in other words Sun-centered. Within this period, Scientists were starting to understand the world’s functions, for they created experiment methods incorporating discipline, mathematics, and the essential Scientist communication.

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1654 Words | 7 Pages

However, Descartes is indeed certain of the fact that he is a thinking being, and that he exists. As a result of this argument, Descartes makes a conclusion that the things he perceives clearly and distinctly cannot be false, and are therefore true (Blanchette). This clear and distinct perception is an important component to the argument that Descartes makes in his fifth meditation for the existence of God. This paper explains Descartes ' proof of God 's existence from Descartes ' fifth meditation, Pierre Gassendi 's objection to this proof, and then offers the paper 's author 's opinion on both the proof and objection.

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313 Words | 2 Pages

"Popular Mechanics- Written so that you can understand it," was first published by Henry Haven Windsor in 1902. The magazine title synopsized the intent of the publication. The magazine 's founders intention was to establish a reliable resource for technology and science written in a way that was easily understood by the readers. Chronicling the advent of flying machines, radio, X-Rays, automobiles and a plethora of ingenious inventions, Popular Mechanics helped draw technology and the marvels of the 20th century ever closer to the reader 's own world. The dirigible, the wireless, the television and more leaped out to the voracious hearts and minds of the American public.

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726 Words | 3 Pages

We know clear and distinct perceptions independently by God, and his existence provides us with a certainty we might not possess otherwise. However, another possible strategy would be to change Gods role in Descartes philosophy. Instead of seeing God as the validation of clear and distinct perceptions, rather see him as a safeguard against doubt. This strategy, however, is a problem since it re-constructs the Meditations – Philosophical work of Descartes –.This is because it would not be God, who is the ultimate foundation of knowledge, but the clear and distinct

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1294 Words | 6 Pages

Of all the recurring questions of Man, one of the most persistent is the question of our origins. Specifically the question of what, if anything, caused us to exist. It has been argued by generations of minds, all seeking the definitive explanation of our existence. One such mind was that of Rene Descartes, a brilliant philosopher of his time, throughout and beyond ours. His ideas on geometry and metaphysics, among others, remain influential upon the thinkers of today.

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392 Words | 2 Pages

In the centuries following Aristotle, there were many philosophers’ that were skeptical and challenged his Aristotelian philosophy. Rene Descartes, a philosopher and key figure to Fontenelle, was an anti-Aristotelian who brought about the views of a mechanical philosophy; a framework that modern natural philosophers preferred to the Aristotelian teleology (Shapin, 30). In Fontenelles’ novel “Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds”, he distinguishes between two types of philosophers, those that are curious and those that have poor eyesight. He focuses on the concept of nature in comparison to an opera house, and how these two types of philosophers would view the hidden wires and machinery of nature and the opera house.

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1919 Words | 8 Pages

This essay will now begin the task of laying out the objection to Descartes’

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901 Words | 4 Pages

Within the second Meditation of the book, Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes has four goals to get across to the readers. The first goal is to establish the Cogito as Evidential Invincible. This argument raises many questions that will be discussed throughout the entity of my paper. To present the “I” of the Cogito as a thinking thing is the second goal of this meditation; this argument raises many questions that will be discussed throughout the entity of my paper. The second goal of Descartes ties into the third goal- to understand, what both thought and mind is.

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829 Words | 4 Pages

Rodrigues 1 Izabella Rodrigues Dr. Efron Honors Physics November 20, 2017 René Descartes was born in La Haye en Touraine, France on March 31, 1596. His mother passed away shortly after she gave birth to him. The death of Jeanne Brochard, the mother, left René’s father, Joachim Descartes, as the primary caretaker for his three children. Joachim worked full time, one might even say over time, as a Jurist in the Parliament of Brittany. This demanding job left little time to be a single parent, so he sent his three children off to his parents house (René’s grandparents).

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884 Words | 4 Pages

In this paper, I will deliver a reconstruction of Descartes’ Cogito Argument and my reasoning to validate it as indubitable. I will do so by justifying my interpretations through valid arguments and claim, by showcasing examples with reasoning. Rene Descartes is a French Philosopher of the 17th century, who formulated the philosophical Cogito argument by the name of ‘cogito ergo sum,’ also known as “I think, therefore, I am.” Rene was a skeptic philosopher amongst many scholastic philosophers at his time. He took a skeptical approach towards the relations between thoughts and existence, to interpret his cogito argument as indubitable and whether it could serve as a foundational belief.

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636 Words | 3 Pages

The aim of this paper is not to analyze Descartes and Hobbes ideas and what does he say about the God and what he says about the concept of error or mistake. The overall effect is to raise some doubts about association of Descartes’ philosophy with others philosophy In meditation III, Descartes establishes the argument on the existence of God. He tried to seek to prove the existence of God from the fact what does he know about him moreover, He settle an argument on if the god is not just his imagination and rather, his idea of god is something he was born within. The one thing that Descartes argued the most about the cause of how element A depends on element B, then apparently have much more reality than the A itself therefore as he states, “Father is the principle of the son, do not on that account grant that the son came from a principle; just so, although I have granted that God can in a certain sense be called himself”.

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2041 Words | 9 Pages

Modern philosophy developed alongside the Scientific Revolution and both influenced and affected each other. Therefore, many of the great early philosophers were also important scientists, and, unlike Bacon, so was Descartes. Thus even though both these men share points in common, they also have many differences, either in their backgrounds or in their way of thought. We will focus mainly on comparing and contrasting the methods used by both Bacon and

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670 Words | 3 Pages

In the Discourse on Method, Descartes questions the accuracy of sensory information and introduces the idea that sensory information can be false (18-19). The information used to support hypotheses in experimental physics is collected from laboratories in the form of measurements and calculations based on said measurements and would therefore be designated as sensory information by Descartes. Since much of this observable information is not applicable to theoretical physics, this sector of physics avoids the possibility of using evidence rooted in the proposed deception of the human mind by the senses, and, as a result, would be considered superior to experimental physics by

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1275 Words | 6 Pages

In the second meditation, Descartes uses this cogito of consciousness and existence to assume that the mind is distant from a body. “I am, I exist”. This essay I will clearly discuss an outline of Descartes cogito in the second meditation and how it deals with the subject of existence and also Descartes’s strongest and weakest arguments in this case. “The Meditation of yesterday filled my mind with so many doubts that it is no longer in my power to

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1404 Words | 6 Pages

Descartes and Hume. Rationalism and empiricism. Two of the most iconic philosophers who are both credited with polarizing theories, both claiming they knew the answer to the origin of knowledge and the way people comprehend knowledge. Yet, despite the many differences that conflict each other’s ideologies, they’re strikingly similar as well. In this essay I will attempt to find an understanding of both rationalism and empiricism, show the ideologies of both philosophers all whilst evaluating why one is more theory is potentially true than the other.

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