Term
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Definition
-Descartes' basis for the validity of his ideas; if an idea is clear and distinct, he does not doubt it.
-An idea is clear if you can focus your attention on it; it is distinct if you can distinguish it from other things that are similar.
-Descartes says that thinking is being aware of the ideas in one’s head, and the notion of clear and distinct ideas helps him move into knowledge of the exterior world after it is irrefutably verified in his mind
-However, this leads to the Cartesian Circle-he justifies certain beliefs as reliable because he perceives them clearly and distinctly, and his proof for them is that he perceives them clearly and distinctly.
-Descartes probably missed this because he never doubts his thoughts and regards his rational mind as infallible |
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Term
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Definition
-An idea that considered in itself has all the properties of a true idea
-A true idea is one that agrees with what it is supposed to represent
-Spinoza's view of truth and ideas is not representational, it's about the completeness of the truth
-Spinoza contends that we cannot have an adequate idea of God, or of particular things in nature |
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Term
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Definition
(Based on the idea that there are four main impediments to human knowledge-the tribe (attributable to human nature), the cave (attributable to human development) and..
-False notions of philosophy, science, ethics-academic dogma in general.
-Certain taboos or reigning systems of thought are accepted as the truth or irrationally defended and so true knowledge is suppressed. |
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Term
| Idols of the Market Place |
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Definition
-The abuse of language that stands as an impediment to knowledge
-False notions people form when they interact and communicate (vague or misleading language)
-Distortions of language, when language replaces truth |
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Term
| Spinoza's Three Kinds of Knowledge |
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Definition
1. Experience (empirical knowledge), knowledge through discovery. Weakest form of knowledge.
2. Reasoning through deductive argument
3. Intuitive knowledge (adequate idea, may be ineffable)
-One can have three types of knowledge about the same thing, but one may not have it for everything. Bringing them together shows how you can understand God (the world) fully.
-Underlying this is the Principle of Sufficient Reason-there is a reason everything is the way it is and not another way. |
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| Formal Reality of an Idea |
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Definition
-The formal reality of an idea is as a property of the mind.
-Photograph analogy: The canvas, ink, etc.
-The sun can have a formal reality, so can properties of finite substances
-God has the most formal reality, which is why He must be the cause of our idea of God
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Term
| Objective Reality of an Idea |
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Definition
-What an idea is an idea of
-Based on the representational realist perspective of reality that has ideas as the intermediary of mind and the external world
-Representing feature of an idea, "what the idea points to"
-Photograph analogy: What the picture is a picture of
-Our idea of the sun can have objective reality; the sun itself cannot |
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Definition
-Aristotle's idea that there are essential and accidental properties, essences are at the core of science as they transcend changes
-An essential property is one that transcends changes, like that human beings are rational (wax example) |
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Definition
| -An accidental property is ever-changing and impermanent (wax example: consistency, shape, etc.) |
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| Substance (for Descartes) |
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Definition
-There are two substances: an infinite substance (God), and two finite substances: mind and matter
-Descartes assumes a complete dichotomy between mind and matter. Mind is greater than matter, in the sense that in some ways we can form our own reality. (Falls into occasionalism because when asked how mind/matter interact, he says "God does it")
-Says you can only know substances through their properties; "through the clothes they're wearing" |
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Term
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Definition
-There is no such thing as substance, only matter (corporeal substance)
-There is no "objective reality" of a thought or idea, only little vibrations that correspond to it
-Has a one way causal relationship (external object to idea), which would mean that the idea that arose from seeing someone that looks like Matt would have come directly from Matt himself; this is probably wrong.
-The whole world (including the mind) is matter in motion |
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Term
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Definition
-There is only one substance: God. We can look at God from different points of view, but it's all the same thing, nature, etc. Mind and body are two manifestations of the same thing: God.
-Individual things are "modes" through which we perceive God |
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Term
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Definition
-The simplest and truest substance is a monad. Every person
-Everything hinges on perceptions. The external world is just well-ordered phenomena that is constructed out of perceptions.
-He has mind and matter, but we can only preserve our regular way of talking about things because it is congruent with our perceptions.
-The only things that are real are our minds |
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Term
| The Identity of Indiscernibles |
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Definition
| -If is perfectly similar to y, then they are identical |
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