Introducing Descartes: A Graphic Guide PDF
Preview Introducing Descartes: A Graphic Guide
Published by Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre, 39–41 North Road, London N7 9DP Email: [email protected] www.introducingbooks.com ISBN: 978-184831-985-1 Text copyright © 2012 Icon Books Ltd Illustrations copyright © 2012 Icon Books Ltd The author and illustrator has asserted their moral rights Originating editor: Richard Appignanesi No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Contents Cover Title Page Copyright The Modern Beginner Early Days and Youth The Soldier Descartes’ Three Dreams The First and Second Dreams The Third Dream Descartes Settles in Holland Scholasticism The Early Days of Science What is Science? Reduction to Mathematics Descartes the Scientist Cause Discourse on The Method Clear in the Mind What Is a Clear Idea? Logical and Causal Necessity Can You Know Wax? Rationalists and Empiricists Brief History of Scepticism The Pyrrhonists The Pyrrhonists Arguments Sextus and Other Sceptics Cartesian Doubt How to Doubt Everything Seeing Isn’t Believing Dreaming Rationalists and Reason The Invisible Demon Do Our Senses Lie to Us? Are We Awake or Not? Invisible Demons? The Impossibility of a “Private Language” Back to the Basket The Last Apple: Cogito ergo Sum What is the Cogito? The Cul de Sac of the Cogito Public Knowledge The Clear and Distinct Rule Problems of the Clear and Distinct Rule The Need for God The Trademark Argument The Cartesian Circle The Ontological Argument A Series of Leaky Proofs Making Mistakes Intellect versus Will Belief Is Cheap Belief and Faith A Good Bet A Quiet Life in Holland Meditations on Perception Bringing in God Again Mathematical Certainties Ancient Greek Mathematics Is the Universe Mathematical? Descartes the Mathematician The Rigour of Mathematics But What is Mathematics? Mathematical Relativism Formalists The Success Story Mathematical Humans The Mathematization of Everything Res Extensa Res Cogitans Cartesian Dualism The Dualist Agrument Thinking Existence Problems with Cartesian Dualism Another Argument Human Beings and Language Brains or Minds? Effects of Brain Damage Mind-Body Interaction Seeing and Hearing the World Perceiving and Imagining Trialism Explains Sensations The Philosophy of Mind Open to Criticism The Mind and Body Problem Some Odd Answers How Did Brains Evolve Minds? What is Consciousness? Aspects of Consciousness Brains not Minds Behaviourists Problems with Behaviourism Physicalist Problems Functionalism Problems Humans and Computers Can Computers Understand? The Principles Retirement Descartes and Ethics Invitation to England? Invitation to Sweden All Frenchmen Dance … Lessons at 5 A.M. Descartes’ Legacy The Thinking Individual The Postmodern Mind “How do we really think?” Knowledge and Certainty The Postmodern Condition Further Reading Acknowledgements Index About the Authors The Modern Beginner Everyone agrees that modern philosophy began with Descartes. Why “modern”? Because he insisted on thinking for himself, rather than just accepting what he had been taught. By this method, Descartes believed he could establish the philosophical and mathematical foundations for all of human knowledge – an ambitious quest which eventually turned out to be strangely personal and deeply subjective. Descartes’ philosophy is like a spiritual journey which he invites the reader to join, and which he always promised would produce extraordinary results… I shall bring to light the true riches of our souls, opening up to each of us the means whereby we can find within ourselves all the knowledge we may need for the conduct of life and the means of using it in order to acquire all the knowledge that the human mind is capable of possessing … Early Days and Youth René Descartes was born in 1596 in La Haye, in the Touraine region of France. (The town is now called Descartes!) He was the son of a nobleman, which meant that he never had to work for a living. When he was eight, he was sent to the Jesuit school of La Flèche in Anjou. At this Catholic school he learnt Greek and Latin as well as mathematics and Scholastic philosophy. At school, I came to the conclusion that mathematics was the only subject of any real worth – a view I held all of my life. His health was poor and so he was granted permission to stay in bed every morning until 11 o’clock – a habit he kept to in adult life. Descartes always set
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