C LIT 30B Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Cogito Ergo Sum, Dream Argument, Thought Experiment
13 Jun 2015
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
We observe the world, and make deductions that match our sense data. Eternal truths (math, god, etc) are attained by reason alone. Other knowledge (physics, astronomy, etc) requires experience of the world. Task: discover a certain basis of knowledge. What this involves: destroying the entire structure of false knowledge built from childhood onward. I = the meditator / we = rational humans. Descartes brackets this question: madness is not a common experience from madness to dreams. Descartes needs to convince his audience to be more skeptical about what they know. They encourage him to pursue philosophy instead of geology. Primitive universal realities : shape, corporeality, quantity, place. The things we see in sleep, so to speak, painted images (14) When painters desire to represent sirens and little satyrs . Plato emphasizes distance between art and reality. Descartes emphasizes connection of art and reality connection to the sciences. Simple sciences (arithmetic and geometry) are certain.
