Posted on 11/04/2002 7:52:21 AM PST by thinktwice
Descartes was a geometrician. He found only in mathematics and geometry the certainty that he required. Therefore, he used the methods of geometry to think about the world. Now, in geometry, one begins with a search for axioms, simple undeniable truths – for example, the axiom that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points. On the foundations of such “self-evident” propositions, whole geometrical systems can be built.
Following his geometrical model, Descartes proceeds to doubt everything – de onmibus dubitandum. He will suspend belief in the knowledge he learned from childhood, all those things “which I allowed myself in youth to be persuaded without having inquired into their truth.” Doubt will be his method, a deliberate strategy for proceeding toward certainty. (Descartes is a doubter not by nature, but by necessity. What he really wants is secure understanding so he can stop doubting.)
Descartes finds that he has no trouble doubting the existence of real objects/events – our senses too easily deceive us. And we can doubt the existence of a supernatural realm of reality – figments and fantasies are too often conjured by our native imaginations. But now his geometrical model pays off: in trying to doubt everything, he discovers something that he can’t doubt. What he can’t doubt is that he is doubting. Obviously, I exist if I doubt that I exist. My doubt that I exist proves that I exist, for I have to exist to be able to doubt. Therefore I can’t doubt that I exist. Hence, there is at least one fact in the universe that is beyond doubt. “I am, I exist is necessarily true each time that I pronounce it, or that I mentally conceive it.
Descartes thus becomes the author of the most famous phrase in Western philosophy: Cognito ergo sum, or, in his original French, Je pense, donc je suis. – I think, therefore I exist. With roots in St. Augustine, this is certainly one of the catchiest ideas yet created by the human mind.
#39.
The metaphysical basis (the first source of knowledge, or starting point) for Ayn Rand's Objectivism is reality.
And, I see no disagreement between Rand and Descartes in the "I think, therefore I exist" department.
Until proven wrong, every human is certain about ... many, many things.
Or something like that.LOL! : )
Revealing ... your total ignorance regarding Ayn Rand.
"If there is a philosophical Atlas who carries the whole of Western civilization on his shoulders, it is Aristotle. He has been opposed, misinterpreted, misrepresented, and -- like an axiom -- used by his enemies in the very act of denying him. Whatever intellectual progress men have achieved rests on his achievements." -- Ayn Rand
And ... implying that Ayn Rand was an empiricist is akin to classifying the Pope as an atheist.
Hahahahahaha. Neither do I...........just an interesting thought.
I've just always wondered though whether each of these two philosophers got it only half-right ie. two sides of the same coin.
Philosophy is about ... everything, not just questions regarding certainty and knowledge.
Hmmm. Maybe you could help discostu out, since you appear to have read--or at least remembered more-- than dicostu. You do remember how Socrates closes out the Phaedrus?
I think you just have to accept external reality period. Exactly how do you "doubt" physical sensation? I mean, I can say that I doubt the existence of my own sensations, but isn't such a statement incoherrent, contradictory and absurd since it is impossible for me not to experience my own sensations?
Some truths we know simply because they are. They are prior to logical proof because they precede ratiocination and in fact are necessary for the possibility of ratiocination.
Descartes big, fat error was to artificially and without reason to bifurcate the human person, body and mind or body and soul.
...it could be a big dream, elaborate simulation etc.
But it can't be. Our central sense tells us whether or not we are dreaming. Besides, if it were literally impossible to distinguish a dream from reality then where did the idea of "dream" come from?
The reasoning Descartes used could lead to the impossibility of doubt? How did you do it?
My husband is making up a sign later to support Ehrlich and other fellow republicans: Would this be correct: cogito ergo Republicanum
One of the reasons I like Latin is because it's a very pithy language. There's a lot of meaning in words.
I think you would need:
Cogito, ergo Freeperum sum!
I'm making some assumptions - that the noun "Freeperum" is a gender neuter noun of the second declension. You still need a verb though, so that is why you need the "est Republicanum is a derivative of "publicanum", which has a generic definition.
I'll defer to others more up on Latin than I for additional info or to issue the appropriate corrections if I have erred.
Well, I have read about ten of her books. I stand by my statement.
"If there is a philosophical Atlas who carries the whole of Western civilization on his shoulders, it is Aristotle. He has been opposed, misinterpreted, misrepresented, and -- like an axiom -- used by his enemies in the very act of denying him. Whatever intellectual progress men have achieved rests on his achievements." -- Ayn Rand
Whoa.
And ... implying that Ayn Rand was an empiricist is akin to classifying the Pope as an atheist.
Well what was she? Would you please address the "Knower/thing known" problem? It is critical to her entire endeavor.
Everyone works within limited givens, including Descartes. This is why his talk of finitude is important. The reaction to that is the reason for the fame of this Latin phrase. Rand and other Enlightenment optimists consider it sufficient for politics to work within limited givens and ignore the rest.
Descartes big, fat error was to artificially and without reason to bifurcate the human person, body and mind or body and soul.I'm having trouble following this. According to traditional theology, the bifurcation occurs every time someone dies -- that is, the soul separates from the body.
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