PHIL 2010 Lecture 1: Descartes Notes
Document Summary
What do we know: day of the week, what country we are in, oxygen in the air, cannot survive without h2o. Kinds of knowledge: stipulative: true because some humans says its true, empirical: directly observed. What do we know: the question descartes ask of himself, started from the beginning of his beliefs, undermine his current knowledge, create a method of doubt. Standard of doubt: complete certainty that there is no doubt. If your sensory input fails = should never trust them. Can"t tell if i"m dreaming right now: 2. If i can"t tell i"m dreaming, then i don"t know my experiences are real: 3. I can"t know if my experiences are real. Demon counter argument: demon: a spiritual being that messes with sensory data. Doubt reality: no real way to prove if it is real or not. What can we know: that i exist. The i is whoever is doing the thinking.
