Philosophy Study Guide
Philosophy and Persons – Phil 130
Partial Study Guide for Exam #1
Possible Topics for Extended Response
Be prepared to write a solid paragraph on the following topics:
1. Montaigne and Locke’s theory of perception and how its distinction between appearance and reality provides a basis for skepticism about knowledge of the external world.
They both believe that the senses provide information to people, but that all of the information obtained cannot be fully trusted. The reason is because our senses are faulty. We live in a world that is constantly changing or in a world of things “becoming.” Nothing is constant and the physical aspects of objects can easily and readily be altered. He makes truth of this by using the candle example. At first, the candle appeared to have a distinct shape, size, and form, but when melted, it’s appearance changed as well. Like the candle, our views on what we call reality can be changed effortlessly and in an instant. Also, all of our perceptions are conditioned and unique to each person. For example, an apple may appear red to the majority of people, but it appears green to color-blind people. Because both are observable qualities extracted from the external world via the senses, who is to judge which person is seeing the object accurately. We only know what it appears to us so our perspective on what is actually reality is not reliable.
2. Explain the steps by which Descartes (in Meditation 1) seeks to bring all his beliefs into doubt, what can be doubted at each step and why, and the purpose for doing so.
The aim of Descartes’ first meditation is to first rid the mind of opinion and to only believe what is true. The second goal of his is to begin to put sciences on a firm foundation. He plans on achieving these goals by using a methodological doubt process in which he will see if he can discover a basis or corrosive agent that can bring all his beliefs into doubt. He believes that once a belief can be doubted, all
Partial Study Guide for Exam #1
Possible Topics for Extended Response
Be prepared to write a solid paragraph on the following topics:
1. Montaigne and Locke’s theory of perception and how its distinction between appearance and reality provides a basis for skepticism about knowledge of the external world.
They both believe that the senses provide information to people, but that all of the information obtained cannot be fully trusted. The reason is because our senses are faulty. We live in a world that is constantly changing or in a world of things “becoming.” Nothing is constant and the physical aspects of objects can easily and readily be altered. He makes truth of this by using the candle example. At first, the candle appeared to have a distinct shape, size, and form, but when melted, it’s appearance changed as well. Like the candle, our views on what we call reality can be changed effortlessly and in an instant. Also, all of our perceptions are conditioned and unique to each person. For example, an apple may appear red to the majority of people, but it appears green to color-blind people. Because both are observable qualities extracted from the external world via the senses, who is to judge which person is seeing the object accurately. We only know what it appears to us so our perspective on what is actually reality is not reliable.
2. Explain the steps by which Descartes (in Meditation 1) seeks to bring all his beliefs into doubt, what can be doubted at each step and why, and the purpose for doing so.
The aim of Descartes’ first meditation is to first rid the mind of opinion and to only believe what is true. The second goal of his is to begin to put sciences on a firm foundation. He plans on achieving these goals by using a methodological doubt process in which he will see if he can discover a basis or corrosive agent that can bring all his beliefs into doubt. He believes that once a belief can be doubted, all