PHIL 100 Week Eight Assignment--complete
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Apr 3, 2024
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PHIL 100 Week Eight Assignment
This assignment is due on Friday, October 21, at 11:59 pm. Please submit it via canvas. Part A: Answer all the questions. Limit your answers to one paragraph per question. Each question is worth 2 points.
1.
Descartes comes to the conclusion that “there are no reliable signs by which I can distinguish sleeping from waking.” What considerations led him to this conclusion?
Descartes came to this conclusion because his senses were deceiving him, which caused him not
to trust his senses so he didn’t believe there were any real signs to prove he was awake, rather than asleep. His dreams felt so real that he didn’t believe he could distinguish between them. 2.
Try to state as clearly as you can what Descartes means in Meditation I by "certain and
indubitable" beliefs. (To see what this might mean, ask yourself if you have any beliefs that
you are convinced are certain and indubitable? What are they? How do you think Descartes
would throw doubt on them?)
Certain and indubitable beliefs, according to Descartes, are beliefs that cannot be disputed and have no doubt attached to them. Some of these beliefs to me are the same as Descartes, I exist, I am here, I can think. Some of my other beliefs are that I am a girl, which I’m sure Descartes could throw doubt on by saying something like “gender is a social construct” or “gender has no real meaning” or even “how do you define girl?”
3.
Explain why Descartes thinks he knows for certain that he exists. According to Descartes, what is
the self? What are your thoughts on Descartes’s idea of the self? Descartes thinks he knows for certain that he exists because he can think, “I think therefore I am”, he believes he is a thinking thing and that is his idea of ‘self’. I personally think this is a pretty interesting idea of ‘self’. But it brings about the question of what about beings that can’t ‘think’, what would their definition of ‘self’ be, would they even have a definition if they couldn’t think in the same ways we do. Another question I have, is why do we need a definition of ‘self’ and what that means to us?
Part B: Indicate whether the following statements are true or false. Each question is worth 1 point. 1.
Descartes used the method of doubt in order to find an absolutely certain starting point for building up knowledge. True
2.
Descartes maintained that the beliefs that had been formed through reliance on his senses were
impossible to discard. False
3.
It was Descartes’s view that “I think therefore I am” proves the existence his body. True
4.
Descartes never believed that he is a thinking thing. F
alse
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