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Plato Vs Descartes

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Student’s Name: Professor’s Name: Course: Date: Comparing and Contrasting Plato and Descartes Philosophy is the study that examines fundamental and general problems that face various matters such as existence, values, reasons, knowledge, language, and mind. Some of the earliest philosophers were Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, and Descartes. In our research, we shall focus on the ideas and values of Plato and Descartes and how they were influential during their time. Plato was a philosopher in classical Greece and is famous for being the founder of the Academy in Athens, which is the first institution of higher learning in the western world. He is believed to live between c.428 to 347 B.C. Rene Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, …show more content…

This makes him doubt everything that he was taught. He claims that what he believes is from his own senses, which sometimes may be deceived. He compares this with a basket of apples. In that basket there are rotten apples, therefore we shall be forced to remove all the apples from the basket so that we can return those apples we are sure of to avoid all apples rotting. The same way human beings tend to discard all beliefs according to Descartes and examine each and the importance it has to our lives. Descartes believes that our lives may be dreams that we are forced to believe to be reality including our own bodies and forced to believe in physical existence. Descartes argued that there is a mind and consciousness that doubts or believes the perceptions hence came up with the formulation that states, “I think therefore I am.” He stated that even mathematics can be false and the evil be deceiving us to believe in mathematical judgments (Descartes R. 1911: 14-17). Here he came up with the Cartesian theory in mathematics, which people still believed in despite theorizing about the devil deceiving …show more content…

He claims that the same way we believe in finite, infinite and mode is the same manner that we need to believe that God exists. We all have an idea that God is an infinite being since we believe that God is innate. According to Descartes, our perception of God being an infinite being must also have an infinite object reality. Therefore whoever caused this idea of the existence of an infinite being is the God. This makes Descartes believe in the existence of God. The proof that Descartes offered is that the meditator has an idea with an infinite degree of objective reality. This means that the creator of all things that exist has more objective reality than the ideas that represent finite substances (Descartes R. 1984). This made people believe that there is God who is in control of nature and may be angered or amused by the way we behave. People believed that if we made him happy he will make our plans and actions

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In addition, due to dreams mainly consisting of objects and events, Descartes believed that there is no reason to doubt general beliefs as much as physical objects as 3+2 still equals 5, and a square will always have four sides (14). As a result of this, Descartes concluded that there is a degree of truth in objects we sense as those concepts must have come from somewhere,

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I think therefore I am, translates as I think of God in reality and therefore He is. This introduces the question of whether a universal I can be found. Descartes is able to clarify the true source from which feelings and thoughts can come from, which he says is the I. This

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Descartes then attempts to define what he is. He previously believed that he had a spirit and body, by methods for which he was fed, moved, could sense, absorb space, had a distinct area and think. Each one of those methods are thrown into uncertainty except thinking. Since he can think, he should exist. He thinks about whether he no longer exists once his reasoning comes to a halt.

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Juliet Arowosaye UCOR 132: Basic Philosophical Questions Meditations on First Philosophy; Descartes’ Doubts and Resolutions In Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes, the meditator presents the possibility that everything he, and all humans, have known and seen could be false. He struggles to find any reason to not doubt that our senses have just been deceiving us our whole lives. Thus, he reaches the conclusion that everything we have seen and known, as well as our existence, must be called into doubt. Descartes attempts to unravel the meditator’s mentality by presenting ways in which we are possibly being deceived.

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If Humanism is the application of classical thought to intellectual and social culture, then it must be acknowledged that objectively there is an expression of humanism within the Florentine Chronicle. Towards the start of book eight, Villani addresses his reasons for writing the chronicle and alleges that he was directly inspired by the Roman jubilee of 1300 whereupon, “beholding the great and ancient things therein, and reading the stories and the great doings of the Romans, written by Virgil, and by Sallust, and by Lucan, and Titus Livius, and Valerius, and Paulus Orosius, and other masters of history” he saw the need for Florence to have a similar recorded history. Here, Villani has directly referenced his classical inspiration and intent

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Notre Dame ID: 902008117 In René Descartes ' Mediations on First Philosophy, Descartes abandons all previous notions or things that he holds to be true and attempts to reason through his beliefs to find the things that he can truly know without a doubt. In his first two meditations Descartes comes to the conclusion that all that he can truly know is that he exists, and that he is a thinking being. In his third meditation, Descartes concludes that he came to know his existence, and the fact that he is a thinking being, from his clear and distinct perception of these two facts. Descartes then argues that if his clear and distinct perception would turn out to be false, then his clear and distinct perception that he was a thinking being would not have been enough to make him certain of it (Blanchette).

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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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Descartes sets aside his senses and his images of bodily things before commencing his argument for the existence of God. The third Meditation can be split up into three main points. Classification of Ideas In order to prove God’s existence, Descartes concentrates on the thoughts

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While the process that led to his first absolute certainty regarding his existence was impressive, the fact that he proposed his existence as the key to God’s existence demolished the credibility of his argument (Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, p.70). For Descartes to exist, he believed that thoughts must come as a precondition. We understand that thoughts could only be able to process through a living organism. Before and right after the point at which his existence was proven as an absolute certainty, he had not confirmed that other living being could be capable of the same ability, thus if Descartes died then his thoughts would also being lost, his existence would be unproven and the very basis for the existence of God would be gone. The second problem with his argument lied within the cause and effect argument, in which there must exists a God whose presence encompassed everything.

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For how he can be certain that 2+2= 4 and not 5, how can he know for sure that he is not being deceived into believing the answer to be 5 due to a demon. But even if an evil demon did indeed exist, in order to be misled, Descartes himself must exist. As there must be an “I”, that can be deceived. Conclusively, upon Descartes’ interpretations we can come to decipher that in order for someone to exist they must indeed be able to think, to exist as a thinking thing.

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In the Discourse on Method, the challenge for Descartes is especially to present his method and to fight against skepticism. Descartes realizes that sometimes he is in error with his way of perceiving things. Descartes is sure that the mind and the body exist independently and assert that it is hard to tell if it is “me” or “god” or an “evil demon” who is responsible for your thoughts.” His last meditation on this passage provokes a feeling of hesitation. Descartes decides voluntarily to question all his knowledge and opinion.

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René Descartes wrote his series of six meditations with the intention of providing a theory that would lead to the truth. The third meditation consists of a summary of Descartes conclusions so far, he finds that he cannot have a firm foundation for certainty without first proving whether or not God exists and if so, whether God is a deceiver or not. God is of main interest in the third meditation which will be assessed further to show his attempts to prove the existence of such a being. To begin with, Descartes third meditation revolves around the existence of God and of him challenging his beliefs of the existence of himself as a thinking thing.

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Senses provide man with many ordinary beliefs and Descartes claimed all if them to be doubtful. He believed the senses to be untrustworthy and incapable of providing us with certainity. 'From time to time I have found that the senses deceive, and it is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once '. Descartes then states he had dreams that were very similar to walking experiments. He then questions when he is dreaming and when he is not.

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Descartes idea of himself originates from the reality that he is a thinking thing. “I think therefore I am.” Descartes develops this concept through his mind, in which is directly rooted in his perceptions and/or senses of the world around him. Ideally, the notions constructed by senses embody a rationale of truth in Descartes mind.

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Therefore Descartes states that “I am, I exist”, is true if he can clearly say it himself in the first person. This shows that for a body to think they must exist; otherwise there will be no thinking to

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