PHIL 1050 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Philosophical Skepticism, Ontological Argument, Gaunilo Of Marmoutiers
12 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
113 (descartes) in textbook, looking at next week. Branch of philosophy that questions the nature of the world. Main field of inquiry in medieval world. Questions epistemology (study of knowledge) instead of metaphysics which was popular during his time. What is knowledge, how do we get knowledge. Defends modern science, but also supports the idea and existence of god. Everything has a certain type of nature, natural purposes. Descartes tried to replace teleological explanation with mechanistic explanations. Mechanistic explanations mention earlier events and postulate laws of nature which determines what"s next. Example, rock falling to the ground teleological: rock has purpose to be on the ground and therefore falls mechanistic: rock was above the ground and gravity worked on it. In order for a belief to count as real knowledge, it cannot turn out to be false. Descartes questions if any of his beliefs or knowledge can withstand the skeptical challenge.
