Phil 201: Exam 2 Question and answers
already passed 2025
What is "first philosophy" according to Descartes? (remember the tree of
human knowledge?) - correct answer ✔The first philosophy is that which
demonstrates the existence of God and the distinction between the human
soul and the body.
What goal or objective does Descartes want to achieve by means of doubt (in
the first Meditation)?
[What fundamental things upon which all others rest does he study in the
Meditations?] - correct answer ✔Doubt means we never totally trust our
senses since they deceive us
Possible grounds for doubt about all things, especially material things
We have no foundations for sciences other than those we have had till now
What are the benefits of a DOUBT according to Descartes? - correct answer
✔Usefulness of doubt isn't apparent at first
Benefits:
frees us from all our preconceived opinions
provides us easiest route by which the mind may be led away from senses
result of doubt: it is impossible for us to have any further doubts about what
we subsequently discover to be true
What degree of doubt is sufficient for Descartes to reject a certain type of
knowledge (principle) as wholly false? - correct answer ✔The mind uses its
freedom and supposes the non-existence of all the things about whose
existence it can have even the slightest doubt.
Mind notices it is impossible to for it in itself to not exist during this time
, HUGE benefit because it enables mind to easily distinguish what belongs to
itself (distinguish between intellectual nature from what belongs to body)
Important: prerequisite for knowledge of the immortality of the soul=form a
concept of the soul which is as clear as possible and also quite distinct from
every concept of the body
What is the geometric method (axiomatic method in geometry) applied in the
Meditations? - correct answer ✔AKA:intuitive-deductive method
He establishes and constructs the foundation for certain indubitable and true
system of knowledge
Why does Descartes distrust sensory experience of remote and small
objects? (deception) - correct answer ✔The Cartesian "Method of Doubt" is
applied to our senses which is a major source of our information. Descartes
says that sometimes we are deceived by our senses.
What is Descartes' reason to doubt immediate sensory experience or images
regarding his body? - correct answer ✔We may be in error, no matter how
positive we may feel. If deluded people are so positive about what they
believe, they feel, they see, though they are in error, can we be certain that
we are not deluded when we feel positive that we see or feel certain things?
Why does Descartes claim that composite things like a head, hands and the
like could be imaginary? What things cannot he doubt with the dream
hypothesis? - correct answer ✔Composite things (head, feet, hands, body,
etc) can be doubted and deemed imaginary by the dream hypothesis:
have the same bodily images in my mind when I am awake and when I am
dreaming in sleep.
If 1 is the case, I cannot with certainty tell the difference being awake from
being asleep.
Therefore, I have reason to doubt all of the knowledge related to bodily
images.
already passed 2025
What is "first philosophy" according to Descartes? (remember the tree of
human knowledge?) - correct answer ✔The first philosophy is that which
demonstrates the existence of God and the distinction between the human
soul and the body.
What goal or objective does Descartes want to achieve by means of doubt (in
the first Meditation)?
[What fundamental things upon which all others rest does he study in the
Meditations?] - correct answer ✔Doubt means we never totally trust our
senses since they deceive us
Possible grounds for doubt about all things, especially material things
We have no foundations for sciences other than those we have had till now
What are the benefits of a DOUBT according to Descartes? - correct answer
✔Usefulness of doubt isn't apparent at first
Benefits:
frees us from all our preconceived opinions
provides us easiest route by which the mind may be led away from senses
result of doubt: it is impossible for us to have any further doubts about what
we subsequently discover to be true
What degree of doubt is sufficient for Descartes to reject a certain type of
knowledge (principle) as wholly false? - correct answer ✔The mind uses its
freedom and supposes the non-existence of all the things about whose
existence it can have even the slightest doubt.
Mind notices it is impossible to for it in itself to not exist during this time
, HUGE benefit because it enables mind to easily distinguish what belongs to
itself (distinguish between intellectual nature from what belongs to body)
Important: prerequisite for knowledge of the immortality of the soul=form a
concept of the soul which is as clear as possible and also quite distinct from
every concept of the body
What is the geometric method (axiomatic method in geometry) applied in the
Meditations? - correct answer ✔AKA:intuitive-deductive method
He establishes and constructs the foundation for certain indubitable and true
system of knowledge
Why does Descartes distrust sensory experience of remote and small
objects? (deception) - correct answer ✔The Cartesian "Method of Doubt" is
applied to our senses which is a major source of our information. Descartes
says that sometimes we are deceived by our senses.
What is Descartes' reason to doubt immediate sensory experience or images
regarding his body? - correct answer ✔We may be in error, no matter how
positive we may feel. If deluded people are so positive about what they
believe, they feel, they see, though they are in error, can we be certain that
we are not deluded when we feel positive that we see or feel certain things?
Why does Descartes claim that composite things like a head, hands and the
like could be imaginary? What things cannot he doubt with the dream
hypothesis? - correct answer ✔Composite things (head, feet, hands, body,
etc) can be doubted and deemed imaginary by the dream hypothesis:
have the same bodily images in my mind when I am awake and when I am
dreaming in sleep.
If 1 is the case, I cannot with certainty tell the difference being awake from
being asleep.
Therefore, I have reason to doubt all of the knowledge related to bodily
images.
