Compare And Contrast Descartes And Hume

In René Descartes ' Mediations on First Philosophy, Descartes abandons all previous notions or things that he holds to be true and attempts to reason through his beliefs to find the things that he can truly know without a doubt. In his first two meditations Descartes comes to the conclusion that all that he can truly know is that he exists, and that he is a thinking being. In his third meditation, Descartes concludes that he came to know his existence, and the fact that he is a thinking being, from his clear and distinct perception of these two facts. Descartes then argues that if his clear and distinct perception would turn out to be false, then his clear and distinct perception that he was a thinking being would not have been enough to make him certain of it (Blanchette). However, Descartes is indeed certain of the fact that he is a thinking being, and that he exists. As a result of this argument, Descartes makes a conclusion that the things he perceives clearly and distinctly cannot be false, and are therefore true (Blanchette).

In the passage mentioned above in the Second Meditation, Descartes concludes that sense perception is the root of thinking and other mental processes, such as understanding and doubting. The information we gain from experiencing the world around us originates from our senses. Our senses pick up and analyze the information which in turn allows us to better understand or doubt the information received. In conclusion, Descartes believes that sense perception is the root of thinking, doubting and understanding.

In the sixth meditation, Descartes postulates that there exists a fundamental difference in the natures of both mind and body which necessitates that they be considered as separate and distinct entities, rather than one stemming from the other or vice versa. This essay will endeavour to provide a critical objection to Descartes’ conception of the nature of mind and body and will then further commit to elucidating a suitably Cartesian-esque response to the same objection. (Descartes,1641)

Possibly the most knowledgeable of the three, DesCartes is most concerned with “seeking the true method of arriving at a knowledge of everything” (110). DesCartes is so particular about making sure the knowledge he does have is actual knowledge, that he creates a method to being skeptical (111). He discerns that the only barrier to knowledge is what you haven’t seen or experienced to clearly be true. According to the French thinker, we know we exist, God exist, and that what we know comes through self observation and observation of others. Under these circumstances, there is no real limitation except to got out and learn what is

Descartes (1596 – 1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician and scientist. At an early age, he received his education from the Jesuits and the experience with the Aristotelian ideals there upset him, yet the field of mathematics fascinated him with its precision, uniform certainty and necessity. This dissonance eventually planted a seed into his mind and drove him to question about the nature of knowledge, namely whether it can match mathematics’ indubitableness. Descartes’ attempts in resolving the problem resulted in his Meditations of First Philosophy (1641), which was written in response to queries regarding his new philosophical basis for a novel way to approach the system of knowledge. Upon its publication, Descartes’ Meditations provoked controversy among the Aristotelians – indeed it was an assault on the Aristotelian

David Hume was a skeptic, naturalist, and an atheist philosopher who belonged to a movement founded by John Locke. He strived to apply the sensible procedures for observation to an examination of human nature itself to develop the consequences of Locke 's experimentation. Hume argues that at the base of any system of thought and any science, man is faced with his daily world. This goes beyond the scope of every possible rational project. Man cannot be separated from his experiences, just as there cannot be separate experiences of a thinking ego. Man and his world are mutually solicitous and radically inseparable. The centrifugal and experiential nature of human nature is organized according to Hume on two levels which he calls impressions and

Hume writes: “And experience only teaches us how one event constantly follows another; without instructing us in the secret connexion, which binds them together, and renders them inseparable.”2 A similar statement was made in Section 4 of the Enquiry when Hume wrote: “It must certainly be allowed, that nature has kept us at a great distance from all her secrets, and has afforded us only the knowledge of a few superficial qualities of objects, while she conceals from us those powers and principles on which the influence of these objects entirely depends”. However, these two sentences, at best, shows that Hume believed that secret connexions are possible, but fails as evidence for the stronger claim that Hume believed secret connexions exist. Furthermore, while Hume explicitly refers to a secret connexion that humans are unable to know about, one does feel that Hume did not personally believe in these “secrets” and “powers”. Arguably, Hume talked about “secret connections” only to let the less clever, “vulgar” people understand his theory on causation. This argument is supported by the lack of reference to “secret powers” in the Treatise. Consistency would require the charitable to view Hume’s reference to “secret connexion” and “powers” in such a

However, here it must be mentioned that David Hume’s reputation as a philosopher rests less on an apologist for feeling and more as an opponent of the moral power of reason, famously summarized in the claim that “reason is the slave of the passions” (Hardin, 2007, p. 25). Hume gives emphasis mainly on the psychological phenomenon of sympathy or a specific faculty of emotional communication that leads to the birth of humanity or

Descartes belief in empiricism preparatory reasoning, rationalism is most clearly defined in its acceptance of a deductive method of reasoning. Descartes calls to doubt everything, except one's own reason and the existence of God. Foreign of thought in the material world, everything is ruled by the laws of mathematics, and therefore is predictable since it is part of a complete system. The acceptance in God is crucial to rationalism, since God serves as the only other constant excluding the human mind. Descartes like other figure was greatly influenced by Deism, which caused him to place God. The method of reasoning caused people who could read to preach to the common people(peasants) to question the church weakening the Catholic

There is a crisis of personal identity and the ‘self’ which arises from David Hume’s conclusions of living life in a balanced manner. According to Hume, a balanced life integrates reason, sociality, and business in such a way so that they have a “mitigated skepticism.” However, if one of these three areas is more focused on than the others, such as reason, than one begins to lead a not-useful, non-goal-oriented life full of “little satisfaction.” Pure reason also leads to extreme skepticism and is against nature. Hume explains that “no durable good can ever result from [excessive skepticism]” because it has no influence on society or on the mind. This lack of good caused by pure reason is a crisis of personal identity and the ‘self’ because it is against nature, and according to Hume, the ‘self’ and one’s identity is found in perceptions that are unjustified by nature. One’s sense perceptions are independent of one another and cane never exist at the same time. Thus, as a result, Hume explains that one perceives something from these perceptions, his or her ‘self’, but that this is an illusion because the ‘self’ does not continue if the perceptions are fleeting and not simultaneous. Relating Hume’s denial of pure reason with these illusory perceptions, extreme skepticism makes one doubt the existence of these perceptions and his or her perception of ‘self’, and this doubt

Hume defends this by examining the interaction between the mind and soul or as he puts it the power of will. Hume argues that the power of the will, to carry out the task of volition as being the “cause” is beyond our understanding as the connection between the soul and body is inconceivable. Just like the mind naturally associates ideas such as how heat is a constant attendant of flame, the same is true for inward ideas. If we were aware a previous idea of a connection of the body and the soul, then the current connection would be conceivable. Moreover, Hume deduces that if we cannot understand why some parts of our bodies move free while others move instinctively then the power of the mind is limited thus we turn to experience for reason. We must understand why we can control our fingers and not our spleen in order to experience necessary connection. For example, Hume provides the occurrence of a “phantom limb” in order to show how our will is influence through experience without instructing us of a necessary connexion. In other words, in order to move our limbs our the power of our will should do just that but we are unaware of various unknown micro movements oblivious to our knowledge that must come into play in order to acquire the desire action. If the micro movements were to be felt as we “feel” the

Philosophy has had an impact on mankind for thousands of years. This topic attempts to answer questions about the everyday world, and how things are the way they are. In Philosophy, there are many different topics that are discussed. These topics include Epistemology, Ontology, Ethics, Political and Social Philosophy, Aesthetics, Logic, and more. The topic that will be discussed in this paper is Epistemology, or the study of knowledge. In Epistemology, there are sub categories as well. These are called Rationalism and Empiricism. Rationalism will be discussed in this paper, and there are two philosophers that follow this method. There names are Rene Descartes and Plato. Plato and Descartes are two Greek philosophers that believe in Rationalism, yet both have a different perspective of it. I will explain both philosopher’s methods when it comes to viewing the everyday world, talk about their similarities and differences, and then choose Descartes’s method regarding Rationalism.

David Hume, a highly influential Scottish empiricist philosopher and historian in the 18th century, is well known in philosophy for his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, in which he discusses many philosophical matters, including epistemology, moral theory, miracles, free will and determinism. Hume follows the arguments regarding these topics wherever they lead without hesitation, resulting in many disturbing, but well-grounded conclusions. In Section IV of the Enquiry, Hume makes several claims: all of our reasonings concerning matters of fact are derived from cause and effect, all knowledge of cause and effect is based on experience, and any reasonings based on cause and effect depend on the assumption that the future will resemble

In this paper, I present my own interpretation of how Descartes, in his Meditations (1), tries to answer the question whether it is possible to build firm foundations for indubitable knowledge. The kind of knowledge he seeks is one we can achieve without doubt. In Descartes’ epistemology, we can claim to know something certainly only if there is no possible doubt for our proposition. The proof of the existence of God as an ultimately perfect and benevolent being is central to achieving this certainty. I will first present his foundationalist view and his general methodology. Then, I will focus on and interpret his proof of the existence of God as a benevolent and ultimately perfect being. I will also interpret some of the obstacles involved

David Hume, one of the most prominent figures of skepticism in philosophy, firmly believed that philosophy is the science of human nature. It is precisely why, one of his most famous and widespread work was the one revolving around the human mind and how it functions in acquiring knowledge. In his work entitled An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, the Scottish philosopher questions the principle of causality and postulates whether it was a mere fabrication of the human mind. Being a firm empiricist, Hume concluded that no theory of reality is possible; there can be no knowledge of anything beyond experience, and since no empirical evidence supports the theory of causality, Hume finds himself rejecting it altogether. Half a century later,