Descartes and the Doubting Mind

Descartes and the Doubting Mind PDF Author: James Hill
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441179860
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
Descartes' characterisation of the mind as a 'thinking thing' marks the beginning of modern philosophy of mind. It is also the point of departure for Descartes' own system in which the mind is the first object of knowledge for those who reason in an 'orderly way'. This ground-breaking book shows that the Cartesian mind has been widely misunderstood: typically treated as simply the subject of phenomenal consciousness, ignoring its deeply intellectual character. James Hill argues that this interpretation has gone hand in hand with a misreading of Descartes' method of doubt which treats it as all-inclusive and universal in scope. In fact, the sceptical arguments of the First Meditation aim to lead the mind away from the senses and towards the intellectual 'notions' that the mind has within it, and which are never the subject of doubt. Hill also places Descartes' concept of mind into the wider setting of his science of nature, showing how he wished to reveal a mental subject that would able to comprehend the new physics necessitated by Copernicus' heliocentrism.

Descartes and the Doubting Mind

Descartes and the Doubting Mind PDF Author: James Hill
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441179860
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
Descartes' characterisation of the mind as a 'thinking thing' marks the beginning of modern philosophy of mind. It is also the point of departure for Descartes' own system in which the mind is the first object of knowledge for those who reason in an 'orderly way'. This ground-breaking book shows that the Cartesian mind has been widely misunderstood: typically treated as simply the subject of phenomenal consciousness, ignoring its deeply intellectual character. James Hill argues that this interpretation has gone hand in hand with a misreading of Descartes' method of doubt which treats it as all-inclusive and universal in scope. In fact, the sceptical arguments of the First Meditation aim to lead the mind away from the senses and towards the intellectual 'notions' that the mind has within it, and which are never the subject of doubt. Hill also places Descartes' concept of mind into the wider setting of his science of nature, showing how he wished to reveal a mental subject that would able to comprehend the new physics necessitated by Copernicus' heliocentrism.

Meditations on First Philosophy

Meditations on First Philosophy PDF Author: René Descartes
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780941736121
Category : First philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Descartes's Method of Doubt

Descartes's Method of Doubt PDF Author: Janet Broughton
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691117324
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
In 'Descartes's Method of Doubt', Broughton analyses Descartes's novel way of raising radical doubt and argues that he thought he could use doubt to achieve certainty by uncovering the conditions that make radical doubt possible.

Discourse on the Method

Discourse on the Method PDF Author: René Descartes
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300067736
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
Descartes' ideas not only changed the course of Western philosophy but also led to or transformed the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, physics and mathematics, political theory and ethics, psychoanalysis, and literature and the arts. This book reprints Descartes' major works, Discourse on Method and Meditations, and presents essays by leading scholars that explore his contributions in each of those fields and place his ideas in the context of his time and our own. There are chapters by David Weissman on metaphysics and psychoanalysis, John Post on epistemology, Lou Massa on physics and mathematics, William T. Bluhm on politics and ethics, and Thomas Pavel on literature and art. These essays are accompanied by others by David Weissman and by Stephen Toulmin that introduce the idea of intellectual lineages, discuss the period in which Descartes wrote, and reexamine the premises of his philosophy in light of contemporary philosophical, political, and social thinking.

Descartes's Method of Doubt

Descartes's Method of Doubt PDF Author: Janet Broughton
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9781400825042
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Descartes thought that we could achieve absolute certainty by starting with radical doubt. He adopts this strategy in the Meditations on First Philosophy, where he raises sweeping doubts with the famous dream argument and the hypothesis of an evil demon. But why did Descartes think we should take these exaggerated doubts seriously? And if we do take them seriously, how did he think any of our beliefs could ever escape them? Janet Broughton undertakes a close study of Descartes's first three meditations to answer these questions and to present a fresh way of understanding precisely what Descartes was up to. Broughton first contrasts Descartes's doubts with those of the ancient skeptics, arguing that Cartesian doubt has a novel structure and a distinctive relation to the commonsense outlook of everyday life. She then argues that Descartes pursues absolute certainty by uncovering the conditions that make his radical doubt possible. She gives a unified account of how Descartes uses this strategy, first to find certainty about his own existence and then to argue that God exists. Drawing on this analysis, Broughton provides a new way to understand Descartes's insistence that he hasn't argued in a circle, and she measures his ambitions against those of contemporary philosophers who use transcendental arguments in their efforts to defeat skepticism. The book is a powerful contribution both to the history of philosophy and to current debates in epistemology.

Meditations, Objections, and Replies

Meditations, Objections, and Replies PDF Author: René Descartes
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 1603840567
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
This edition features reliable, accessible translations; useful editorial materials; and a straightforward presentation of the Objections and Replies, including the objections from Caterus, Arnauld, and Hobbes, accompanied by Descartes' replies, in their entirety. The letter serving as a reply to Gassendi--in which several of Descartes' associates present Gassendi's best arguments and Descartes' replies--conveys the highlights and important issues of their notoriously extended exchange. Roger Ariew's illuminating Introduction discusses the Meditations and the intellectual environment surrounding its reception.

The Will to Reason

The Will to Reason PDF Author: C. P. Ragland
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190264454
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
In 'Giving Aid Effectively', Mark T. Buntaine argues that countries that are members of international organizations have prompted multilateral development banks to give development and environmental aid more effectively by generating better information about performance.

The Dilemma of Modernity

The Dilemma of Modernity PDF Author: Lawrence E. Cahoone
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780887065491
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
The development of modern culture along subjectivist lines has led to an analogue of psychological narcissism--to philosophical narcissism--in the culture. The intrinsic value of human cultural activity has been lost, and the intellectual foundation of the modern world-view has been destroyed. Cahoone carefully develops the idea of subjectivity and narcissism using psychological theory, the dialectical theory of the Frankfurt school, and historians. The core of his interpretive argument is developed through careful analysis of Descartes and Kant as well as of Husserl and Heidegger. Cahoone maintains a carefully controlled continuity between the analysis of philosophic positions and what they reveal about culture. In the conclusion, he moves toward a recreation of culture in non-subjectivist naturalism. Insights are drawn from Freud, Fairbairne, Winnicott, Kohut, Sennett, Lasch, Horkheimer, Adorno, Dewey, Cassirer, Kundera, and Buchler.

Silencing the Demon’s Advocate

Silencing the Demon’s Advocate PDF Author:
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 080477966X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
The author argues that many problems of interpretation including notorious problems of circularity, arise from a failure to recognise that Descartes' strategy for the attainment of certainty is not to add support for his beliefs, but to subtract grounds for doubt.

The Principles of Philosophy

The Principles of Philosophy PDF Author: Rene Descartes
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781726253093
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
The Principles of Philosophy By Rene Descartes The only apprehension I entertain is lest the title should deter some who have not been brought up to letters, or with whom philosophy is in bad repute, because the kind they were taught has proved unsatisfactory; and this makes me think that it will be useful to add a preface to it for the purpose of showing what the MATTER of the work is, what END I had in view in writing it, and what UTILITY may be derived from it. But although it might be my part to write a preface of this nature, seeing I ought to know those particulars better than any other person, I cannot nevertheless prevail upon myself to do anything more than merely to give a summary of the chief points that fall, as I think, to be discussed in it: and I leave it to your discretion to present to the public such part of them as you shall judge proper.