Questions tagged [descartes]
Questions related to René Descartes (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650)
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An Argument against Descartes's radical doubt
Reflecting on Descartes's evil genius, I came up with an argument to use against his radical skepticism, that is, when he doubts even the basic laws of logic and basic mathematics (3 + 2 = 5).
The ...
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What is the bridge between Agrippa's and Descartes' mindsets? What to read to understand the radical change
After Reading a couple of works by Descartes (XVI century), I am now reading "Three Books of Occult Philosophy" by Cornelius Agrippa (around 1530). The difference in mindset and worldview is ...
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What is meant by artistic qualities and Can anyone point out some of these qualities?
What is meant by artistic qualities? Can anyone point out some of these qualities?
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Descartes and natural inclinations and aversions
Descartes mentions “secondary properties” (qualitative properties) which guide human behavior.
E. g. we can not only recognize that food became spoiled by its odor but we’re immediately repelled by it....
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Descartes "I am, I exist"
At the start of the second meditation, Descartes seems to work his way to his first indubitable conclusion: "I am, I exist."
A question one might ask is: "how do you know you really ...
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How did Descartes made a logical skeptic argument against logic, without falling into a paradox, in his Metaphysical Meditations? Is it actually valid
René Descartes seems to have made some arguments against logic and mathematics in his Metaphysical Meditations, however it seems that these arguments are still logical, and the problem is whether that ...
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Quotations from Descartes on Animals as Automata
Animals do not feel pain and are automata. This view is commonly attributed to Descartes. And I would agree that in his philosophy no other conclusion makes sense.
But still, I want to distinguish ...
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How does idealism deal with 'discovery'?
I just responded to a comment on an old post. At the time I was thinking about Richard Dawkins and his concept of a 'meme'.
That is any concept that lives rent-free in the minds of humans and evolves ...
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Can Cogito, ergo sum be formalized?
I was wondering lately whether Descartes argument for the existence of undoubtable truth could be formalized. I tried to formalize his argument in FOL, but only his light version proving that there ...
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Large cardinals and in intellectu existence?
I have had some success in the philosophy of mathematics. Briefly I compare Cantor's sets to the clear and distinct ideas of Descartes which is regarded as philosophically rigorous work; on the other ...
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Implications of Cartesian Psychophysical Dualism for free-will and determinism
For Descartes, reality consists of two fundamental substances: the mental, and the physical.
The mental substance is distinct from the physical substance in that it is not bound by the deterministic, ...
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Does my personal philosophy have a name?
I am not trained in philosophical thinking nor have I read philosophy except for the motto "I think therefore I am".
My personal philosophy
I know that something exists (by observation and ...
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Contributions of Descartes
What ideas did Descartes have about knowledge and reality that were so incongruent with the prevailing neo-Aristotelian paradigm of knowing the real essences of things through abstracting from sense ...
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Descartes and his taxonomy of ideas
Given the context of philosophical ideas such as tabula rasa, empiricism, and rationalism, René Descartes is known for his philosophy of mind and his attempt to analyze thinking as well as his ...
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Is thinking an activity of a subject?
I am interested in the question of whether thinking must be an activity of a subject. Is it true that thinking has no reality without being a mode of the subject? Could it be possible that there is ...
