Great Philosophers- 笛卡尔英文介绍

Great Philosophers Friday October 7th Rene Descartes Continued (Class 3)

We left last class in the depths of doubt. He had left us with nothing as he was able to doubt everyt hing he learned through his senses due to the ‘evil spirit theory’ see page 40 of the text.

Doubt is a dangerous thing. Where does it end (pit of despair). The freedom to doubt is part of the modern self. Descartes’ doubt is fostered in science, he wants to find the one truth upon which he can turn the world (fulcrum theory)

It is I that doubt, it is I that am deceived. I may doubt that I have a body, but it is still I that doubt. The constant is I. It is I that thinks, (even if I am deceived or wrong, it is still I that is wrong) I am, every time I think. ‘I think therefore I am’ or ‘I doubt therefore I am’. The one thing that I cannot refute (not subject to doubt) it is I that thinks, and therefore I exist (even if I am wrong).

This leads to the question; what am I? Descartes methodically breaks down this I. He breaks it down into two parts. 1) The body, and 2) The soul.

Can I know the body? I am very familiar with it, but can I know it? It is there all the time, but Descartes says that he cannot know this for sure because he perceives his body through his senses (which he has proved false due to the great deceiver theory). Can he know himself through knowing his soul? The soul for Descartes animates the body. (From Aristotle’s philosophy of the soul as anima.) What are the activities of the soul; movement, feeding, sensation, and thinking. The first three activities of the soul are actually connected with the body. Therefore he cannot know the soul through these activities, because they are bodily activities. The body can be deceived, and it is also deceiving.

That leaves the fourth activity of the soul; thinking. This doesn’t require anything related to the body. Thinking is therefore the one certain activity of the soul. I know I am and I know I think but what am I? Descartes answer: I am a thing that thinks.

What is thinking? It is doubting, understanding, willing, imagining. Not just thinking in the sense of calculating, but mental activity.

Class discussion; what do you think thinking is when you think?

-emotional feeling

-imagination

-logic

-analysis without sensory input.

-making sense of the world, making correlations, determining patterns and trends

-synthesis

-subjective interpretation of the environment.

Proff: Thinking about thinking is an important aspect of thinking. Goes beyond calculations, and the mechanics of the brain, and it takes on different dimension. It could be called thought, consciousness, or mind.

What it the difference between a computer that thinks and human thought. Can a computer think about thinking? You can program a computer to make some kind of loop to resemble this action. But does it actually do it? NO. You program a computer to think. Individuals are capable of thinking freely of any intervention. This freedom is part of consciousness.

Cartesian philosophy; mind as something that is separate from body. He is arguing for an idea of thought that is essentially different from the material. We have to think of thought as self reflective, therefore conscious, an expression of freedom, capable of doubt. (The whole process began with this freedom to doubt).

Proff: I don’t want a computer that doubts.

Mind as separate from the substance of the material world.

For Descartes; reflecting on the self is the main goal. Questioning who am I? What does it mean to be a self? Asked to reflect upon oneself.

-Circle of self reflection

The modern self as coming out of Descartes (midterm question)

-self reflecting (self conscious)

-doubting

-free

These three things can be opposed to what a computer is thought to do. (a computer is just a complex calculator). A computer cannot do the things mentioned above. (Presumably)

Descartes is not talking about a machine, but rather a substance. There is something unique about thinking that is separate from other substances. For Descartes there are two substances 1) Thinking, and 2) material, bodily world… these two separate substances are not supposed to meet.

The idea of the self as free is incredibly significant for Descartes. (This will be important when we discuss Kant later in the course). Essential to the ideas of ethics which will discussed later as well.

The material stuff of nature is determined by natural laws of causation. There is no freedom in the material world. It is all determined by the laws of physics, and causality. Freedom must be a separate substance, and it is called the mind.