Descartes: The Dream Argument (Meditation 1 59-63)
-Main point: we cannot trust our senses because they can deceive us
-We can never be certain if we are awake or dreaming because when we dream, we think the objects around us are real, but they are not
-This means we could be in a dream right now
-Still,
Descartes: The Evil Genius Argument (Meditation 1 59-63)
-Main point: we cannot trust our reason either (math and geometry)
-there could be an evil genius who is constantly trying to deceive us
-math and geometry might not always be true the way that we think they are, our very reason could be wrong, like 2+2 c
Descartes: The Cogito Argument (Meditation 2 63-69)
I think therefore I am"
-main point: an intuition proves you exist
-you can be deceived by the evil genius as to what you are, but not that you are
-at this point, you know that you are a thinking thing, but you do not know that what you think is true
Descartes: The Wax Argument (Meditation 2 63-69)
Main point: we use our mind to know things, and they are more accurate when we use our mind
-Descartes holds a piece of wax and uses his senses to see that it exists
-then it melts and loses its features, but he still knows that it exists because of his m
Descartes: The Ontological Argument (Meditation 2 63-69)
In Short:
1. God is the perfect Being (meaning that he has all perfections)
2. Existence is a perfection
3. Therefore, God exists
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-An effect is not bigger than its cause (reverse of what Hume says), so you
Descartes: The Innate Ideas Argument (Meditation 5 87-88)
In Short:
1. I have an idea in my mind
2. It cannot have come from experience
3. I have not fabricated it
4. Therefore, it is an innate idea
Example: thinking of a triangle that you have never encountered in experience, but it must exist because you could
Descartes: Argument that the purpose of the body is not cognition (Meditation 6)
Main point: the body is divisible but the mind is not
-The body's purpose is to stay alive and healthy, it does not have knowledge so it is not seeking the truth
-the body may desire things that go against reason-like wanting to drink water when it will m
Hume: Two Kinds of Philosophy
1. Easy Philosophy: used as a guide to good action, example: common laws
-considers man chiefly as born for action
2. Abstruse Philosophy: studies principles of knowledge, gives reason to easy philosophy
-considers man as made for reason
-harder than easy
Hume: Impressions and Ideas- their differences and their relationship
1. Impressions: when we hear, see, feel, love, hate, desire, or will
2. Ideas: we we reflect on any of the sensations named above
-we can only have an idea if we have had an impression of it
-we can combine impressions to create an idea
Conclusion: ideas
Hume: The Three Principles of Association of Ideas (14)
1. Resemblance: a picture leads to a thought of the original
2. Contiguity: the mention of one apartment in a building naturally introduces an enquiry concerning the others
3. Cause and effect: thought of a wound leads to thought of the pain that follows
Hume: Relations of Ideas and Matters of Fact
1. Relations of Ideas: Necessary and always true, indubitable, example: 5*3=30/2
-we can prove that the opposite of what would happen is impossible
2. Matters of Fact: might not always be true, contingent on others things in a cause and effect relationshi
Hume: The origin of our belief in necessary and causal connections (cause and effect)
-all reasoning comes from experience and is not supported by hard fact
-things that we consider matters of fact are really just habitual things
-the power of something is in its ability: fire's power is to burn
-power is a necessary connection we associat
Hume: The problem of liberty and solution to it
-Liberty and necessity are in opposition
Necessity=something that must happen
Liberty=something that could happen
-Are humans accountable for their actions, as in are they necessary, or do we have free will?
-Solution: Human actions are necessary (we act
Hume: The similarity between animal cognition and human cognition
Animal cognition: Animals learn everything from experience, that is why they are trained, and then they eventually act on instinct
Human cognition: we also act on instinct but have the power to go against it if we want
-Conclusion: we both derive our know
Hume: Testimony as a method of knowledge
-Testimony is a crucial form of knowledge that tells us that something is the case without us going through the experience of it
-must evaluate the evidence to see if it is true
-no testimony establishes a miracle, unless its falsehood is more of a miracl
Hume: Reasons against the belief in miracles
1. No miracle in history was testified by enough educated people
2. Humans have a desire to believe in miracles
3. Miracles of different religions contradict each other
4. Stories of miracles often start with uneducated people
Hume: Argument against arguments for the existence of God
-One can't assume a cause is bigger than its effect, therefore we cannot infer God (cause) from the universe (effect)
-cause and effect must be proportional
-the universe is not perfect so therefore God cannot be perfect either
-Hume believes that being v