Philosophy
After studying some philosophical works on our website, you'll be able to write coursework on any topic with ease.
2,286 Essays on Philosophy. Documents 481 - 510
-
Descartes
Descartes argued that bodies differ from how they appear through senses. Colors, sounds, tastes, smells, heat, and cold are merely sensations existing in thought, and there is nothing in bodies that resembles them, just as there is nothing in bodies that resembles our sensation of pain. Instead the properties of bodies are those which are capable of being quantified, namely, extension and its modes, shape, size, and motion. He denied the existence of a vacuum,
Rating:Essay Length: 274 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: January 4, 2010 -
Descartes
Descartes writes the reply to prove to his objectors that the intellect corrects the errors of the senses. Descartes begins his reply by defining the way people use the word refraction to explain why a straight stick in a pool of water looks bent. By using the word refraction, the masses simply mean that any individual old enough to doubt their vision will know that the stick doesn't really bend. Children may be fooled by
Rating:Essay Length: 489 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: January 20, 2010 -
Descartes
From Descartes' perspective, nature is a representation of God; therefore, God must intrinsically exist, inasmuch as he, too, is a product of His own creation. Descartes was one of many philosophers who fully supported this argument in support of God's existence, contending that the external world is the ruling force behind the presence of all beings. Descartes' assertions, as portrayed within the literary boundaries of Meditations on First Philosophy, were founded not in cosmological or
Rating:Essay Length: 732 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: January 21, 2010 -
Descartes
Does God exist? Theology, cosmological, teleological and ontological arguments are all have ways to prove the existence of God. With all of these great arguments how can one deny that there is a God. There is a God and with these reasons I will prove that. There are two types of theology discussed in chapter nine of Kessler _Voices of Wisdom,_ revealed and natural theology. Revealed theology comes from such sources as the Bible and
Rating:Essay Length: 1,169 Words / 5 PagesSubmitted: January 26, 2010 -
Descartes
1. Descartes' entire philosophical theory is based upon systematic doubt. This approach at the world is certainly different from the majority of Descartes' predecessors. You asked for context, so here it is. Prior to thinkers such as Descartes, most philosophers (and especially theologians) emphasized a belief in something, rather than knowledge about that thing. Descartes' thinking comes after what is now known as the Epistemic Turn. The Epistemic Turn refers to the point in time
Rating:Essay Length: 696 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: January 31, 2010 -
Descartes
Descartes, are you there? “To be, or not to be.” That certainly isn’t necessarily the question but is a question when it comes to Descartes. Does Descartes exist? In theory he should, right? Descartes prided himself on the belief that you should challenge anything and doubt everything that exists in your world. Now I can ramble on about Descartes beliefs about existence, but wouldn’t that contradict the topic of this paper? If he didn’t exist,
Rating:Essay Length: 671 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: February 7, 2010 -
Descartes
Descartes was born in 1596 in Touraine, France. His education consisted of attendance to a Jesuit school of La Fleche. He studied a liberal arts program that emphasized philosophy, the humanities, science, and math. He then went on to the University of Poitiers where he graduated in 1616 with a law degree. Descartes also served as a volunteer in several different armies to broaden his horizons. After all of Descartes' study and contemplation of math
Rating:Essay Length: 251 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: February 19, 2010 -
Descartes
OPPOSING DESCARTES: PROVING THE EXISTENCE OF HANDS Do I have hands? This question seems to follow with: do I have a body? If I do, then how do I know that I have them? It is my belief that I indeed do have hands (two to be exact), the very ones I am using to type. To best argue my point I will refute the argument made by Descartes in Meditation I, that I may
Rating:Essay Length: 272 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: March 23, 2010 -
Descartes
Descartes opens the First Meditation asserting the need "to demolish everything completely and start again right from the foundations" (AT 7:17). In the architectural analogy, we can think of bulldozers as the ground clearing tools of demolition. For Knowledge building, Descartes construes sceptical doubts as the ground clearing tools of epistemic demolition. Bulldozers undermine literal ground; doubt undermines epistemic grounds. Descartes' ultimate aims, however, are constructive. Unlike "the sceptics, who doubt only for the sake
Rating:Essay Length: 402 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: April 7, 2010 -
Descartes
Paper Proposal I 1. Thesis: Descartes seems to jump to his conclusion of the existence of God without much reasoning listed. I will argue that what he has written in his Discourse on Methods and Meditations is not a good enough argument to prove God's existence decisively. 2. Argument: Descartes has five arguments for the existence of God: 1. All we can know about finite substances is they are spatially extended. 2. The mind can
Rating:Essay Length: 605 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: June 3, 2010 -
Descartes - 2nd Meditation
SECOND MEDITATION At the beginning of the Second Meditation, Descartes is stuck in the middle of nothingness. As he regards everything that is around him to be false he has nothing to believe in. He considers what he has learnt to be false too and as his senses deceive him he can't trust them either. Everything that he has ever seen, learned or thought is now external from what he believes to be true and
Rating:Essay Length: 403 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: February 6, 2010 -
Descartes - an Interpretation of the Mind and Body
An Interpretation of the Mind and the Body In accordance with substance dualism, our bodies and minds are two separate substances able to exist separately. The argument presented by Descartes leans on the assertion that the essence of mind is based on thought while the essence of the body is based on extension, and in return this duality of essences indicates a duality of correlating substances. Furthermore Descartes exemplifies upward and downward causation to show
Rating:Essay Length: 313 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: May 15, 2017 -
Descartes - Discourse on Method
Friendship The definition of friend is one attached to another by affection or esteem. In my opinion, I agreed with Aristotle throughout his well written argument on friendship. Everyone needs friends, even if they do not like to admit it. I strongly believed that in order for friendship to have a firm foundation there has to be love and other kinds of emotions. Aristotle believed that the good is what all things aim for because
Rating:Essay Length: 835 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: April 20, 2010 -
Descartes - Meditations
In the Meditations, Rene Descartes attempts to doubt everything that is possible to doubt. His uncertainty of things that existence ranges from God to himself. Then he goes on to start proving that things do exist by first proving that he exists. After he establishes himself he can go on to establish everything else in the world. Next he goes to prove that the mind is separate then the body. In order to do this
Rating:Essay Length: 867 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: April 5, 2010 -
Descartes 4th Meditation
After Descartes goes over what he has previously covered, including his proving that God exists and that God is perfect, he begins his fourth meditation. In this meditation, titled Truth and falsity, Descartes contemplates how he, Descartes makes mistakes if he is a product of this perfect being. First, he knows that God would not deceive him, since the will to deceive is a sign of weakness or hatred, and God's perfection would not allow
Rating:Essay Length: 780 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: May 7, 2010 -
Descartes and How He Tried to Remove Himself from His Skeptical Point
Jeffrey Laino Ramapo College In the Meditations, Descartes embarks upon what Bernard Williams has called "the project of 'Pure Enquiry' to discover certain, indubitable foundations for knowledge." Although Descartes' views relied mainly on skepticism, he did make an attempt to 'remove' himself from this doubt. By subjecting everything to doubt Descartes hoped to discover whatever was immune to it. In order to best understand how and why Descartes builds his epistemological system up from his
Rating:Essay Length: 4,474 Words / 18 PagesSubmitted: November 29, 2009 -
Descartes Belief
Abstract: I have decided to compile some of what I will be taking away with me from this PHIL 409.02 experience. I apologize if I have not connected the dots of my chosen topic very well. Most of the suggested readings were quite a challenge for me, from print size to content that offered a mental workout. All in all, the experience was a valuable one. Being part of the Theory Knowledge group the research
Rating:Essay Length: 272 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: April 2, 2010 -
Descartes Fear of Being a Heretic?
1. Does Descartes actually believe in God or is he forced to place the belief of God into his text due to fear of being accused a heretic. I am skeptical as to whether Descartes' believes in God and in his own reasons for saying God exists. I have first taken into consideration the fact that during this time and place it was highly frowned upon to disagree with the church and one can be
Rating:Essay Length: 314 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: March 15, 2010 -
Descartes Free Will
In Meditations on First Philosophy Descartes attempts to explain the cause of errors in human beings. Descartes says that error occurs "since the will extends further than the intellect" (Descartes p.39). That's because our intellect is something that is finite; it is limited to the perception of only certain things. Whereas our will, ability to choose is not limited; it is has an infinite capacity. Therefore we sometimes attempt to will things which we do
Rating:Essay Length: 2,038 Words / 9 PagesSubmitted: February 20, 2010 -
Descartes Meditation I
In Descartes Meditation I, he casts doubt as to whether or not we are dreaming. He first uses modus tollens to cast doubt to our senses. He then he uses redictio ad absurdum to show that even if we are dreaming, there are some things that are still real. Descartes begins with establishing the key idea of laying a strong foundation for his ideas. He acknowledges that he has preconceived ideas about the world in
Rating:Essay Length: 1,161 Words / 5 PagesSubmitted: November 18, 2009 -
Descartes Mind and Body
Descartes has a very distinct thought when thinking about the mind, and how it relates to the body, or more specifically then brain. He seems to want to explain that the mind in itself is independent from the body. A body is merely a physical entity that could be proven to be true scientifically and also can be proven through the senses. Such things are not possible with the meta-physical mind because it is independent
Rating:Essay Length: 1,167 Words / 5 PagesSubmitted: November 26, 2009 -
Descartes Philosophical Aim and Method in Meditations
Descartes philosophical aim and method in Meditations is somewhat complex. In first Meditation Descartes tells us how many, if not all things, can come into doubt. This is possible as long as we don't have any past teachings or foundations in concerns to what is in doubt. With no past foundations, we will no longer be able to have doubt placed upon something. From there we can finally discover the truth. Descartes basic premise is
Rating:Essay Length: 618 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: April 13, 2010 -
Descartes Proof for the Existence of God
Descartes Proof for the Existence of God The purpose of my essay will be to examine Descartes' argument for the existence of God. First, I will review Descartes' proof for the existence of God. Then I will examine the reasons that Descartes has for proving God's existence. I will also discuss some consequences that appear as a result of God's existence. Finally, I will point out some complications and problems that exist within the proof.
Rating:Essay Length: 1,622 Words / 7 PagesSubmitted: December 25, 2009 -
Descartes Sixth Meditation
In the Sixth Meditation, Descartes makes a point that there is a distinction between mind and body. It is in Meditation Two when Descartes believes he has shown the mind to be better known than the body. In Meditation Six, however, he goes on to claim that, as he knows his mind and knows clearly and distinctly that its essence consists purely of thought. Also, that bodies' essences consist purely of extension, and that he
Rating:Essay Length: 1,175 Words / 5 PagesSubmitted: November 16, 2009 -
Descartes Third Meditation
Meditation III In Descartes Third Meditation, he establishes arguments to prove the existence of God. Descartes believes in "Cogito Ergo Sum" this means I think therefore I am. The "I" in this sentence means the soul. Descartes believes the existence of the mind is better known than the existence of the body. If my soul thinks then I exist. The Cogito proves the existence of self or the mind; this is not the same for
Rating:Essay Length: 428 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: December 29, 2009 -
Descartes Third Meditation
In Descartes Third Meditation, he establishes arguments to prove the existence of God. Descartes believes in 'Cogito Ergo Sum' this means I think therefore I am. The 'I' in this sentence means the soul. Descartes believes the existence of the mind is better known than the existence of the body. If my soul thinks then I exist. The Cogito proves the existence of self or the mind; this is not the same for the theory
Rating:Essay Length: 326 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: January 13, 2010 -
Descartes Third Meditation
Once Descartes has "proved" his existence by way of the Cogito argument, and has determined what it is that belongs to his essence of being a thinking thing, he must move to examining questions about the world around him. However, before doing this, he thinks it better to examine the question of the existence of God. If he can prove that he was created by a perfectly benevolent creator, then his innate ideas must carry
Rating:Essay Length: 1,692 Words / 7 PagesSubmitted: June 4, 2010 -
Descartes Vs. Hume
Rene Descartes, a rationalist, said that each person contains the criteria for truth and knowledge in them. Finding truth and knowledge comes from the individual themselves, not necessarily from God. Descartes also believed that reason is the same for every single person. Descartes believed that nothing could be true unless we as humans could perceive it. He also believed that you could break down things into smaller simpler parts. Descartes also believed that there was
Rating:Essay Length: 732 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: January 23, 2010 -
Descartes Vs. Spinoza
Term Paper, Philosophy 1107 Aaron Davis Evaluation & Comparison Between Descartes and Spinoza About The Paper: What I will do in this following paper is to discuss two very interesting philosophers, Rene Descartes and Benedictus de Spinoza. I will discuss each philosopher’s perspectives and insights on their most recognized theories and thoughts. I will then evaluate them and then give my opinion on the given topic. By doing this, I will contrast the similarities and
Rating:Essay Length: 1,530 Words / 7 PagesSubmitted: February 19, 2010 -
Descartes' Doubts
In the years after Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses on the wall, the Medieval world explodes and thus dawns the Modern Period. Rene Descartes is born in 1596, in France, a country still feeling the aftershocks of that explosion sixty years later. In light of this knowledge, Descartes grows up in a world that feels uncertain and he sets out to rethink the foundations of knowledge. Subsequently, his work New Foundations for Knowledge focuses
Rating:Essay Length: 1,029 Words / 5 PagesSubmitted: April 9, 2017