Phil 101 Questions
Reading Questions for Phil 413.900, Spring 2009 (Daniel)
Questions on Descartes' Meditations I & II (Jan. 22)
1. For Descartes, why can't knowledge gained through sense experience be trusted as the basis of knowledge?
2. How are the doubts raised by our experience of dreaming different from, and more profound than, doubts raised about errors in sense experience?
3. How is the evil genius argument intended to be broader in scope than either the arguments about doubting sense experience or dreaming?
4. Why can't the evil genius deceive Descartes into thinking that he (Descartes) does not exist?
5. What is the point of Descartes' doubt about having a body? Why can't a thing that thinks, an "I think" (cogito), be a body? What is a body?
6. What is the point of the wax example? How is it important in knowing the self?
Questions on Descartes' Meditations III & IV (Jan. 27)
1. Why is it important to Descartes to determine as early as possible whether God exists and is a deceiver?
2. How is the "spontaneous inclination" to believe that my ideas are caused by things outside me different from the "natural light" by which I can discern truth?
3. How are all ideas alike as "modes of thought"? and how are they different in terms of their "objective reality"?
4. What is the difference between the objective reality of an idea and the actual or formal reality of a thing?
5. Why is my clear and distinct idea of God as an infinite substance not something for which I could have been the cause?
6. If my will is infinite (like God's), then why would I choose to think things wrongly; that is, how can error be explained?
Questions on Descartes' Meditations V & VI (Jan. 29)
1. For Descartes, how can I demonstrate various properties of a thousand-sided figure (a chiliagon) without ever having seen one (or even without one ever having existed)?
2. Why is the distinction between essence and existence important in proving God exists?
3. How can
Questions on Descartes' Meditations I & II (Jan. 22)
1. For Descartes, why can't knowledge gained through sense experience be trusted as the basis of knowledge?
2. How are the doubts raised by our experience of dreaming different from, and more profound than, doubts raised about errors in sense experience?
3. How is the evil genius argument intended to be broader in scope than either the arguments about doubting sense experience or dreaming?
4. Why can't the evil genius deceive Descartes into thinking that he (Descartes) does not exist?
5. What is the point of Descartes' doubt about having a body? Why can't a thing that thinks, an "I think" (cogito), be a body? What is a body?
6. What is the point of the wax example? How is it important in knowing the self?
Questions on Descartes' Meditations III & IV (Jan. 27)
1. Why is it important to Descartes to determine as early as possible whether God exists and is a deceiver?
2. How is the "spontaneous inclination" to believe that my ideas are caused by things outside me different from the "natural light" by which I can discern truth?
3. How are all ideas alike as "modes of thought"? and how are they different in terms of their "objective reality"?
4. What is the difference between the objective reality of an idea and the actual or formal reality of a thing?
5. Why is my clear and distinct idea of God as an infinite substance not something for which I could have been the cause?
6. If my will is infinite (like God's), then why would I choose to think things wrongly; that is, how can error be explained?
Questions on Descartes' Meditations V & VI (Jan. 29)
1. For Descartes, how can I demonstrate various properties of a thousand-sided figure (a chiliagon) without ever having seen one (or even without one ever having existed)?
2. Why is the distinction between essence and existence important in proving God exists?
3. How can