Philosophy

Philosophy Study Guide

philosophical views of Plato with the tenets of Christianity. By melding philosophy and religious beliefs together, he had been characterized as Christianity’s first theologian. His influence had an impact on the thinking of the French philosopher Rene Descartes. 4.3 Descartes’ Modern Perspective on the Self Rene Descartes is considered the founder of modern philosophy. He expanded the concept of the self to include the thinking, reasoning mind. The act of thinking about the self (of being self-conscious) is in itself proof that there is a self. Descartes was concerned with understanding the thinking process and penetrating the nature of our reasoning process and understand its relation to the human self. He was an accomplished mathematician and an aspiring scientist and was an integral part of the scientific revolution. His major philosophical work is known as Meditations on First Philosophy . His foundation of scientific revolution was the belief that genuine knowledge needed to be based on independent rational inquiry and real world experimentation. It was no longer appropriate to accept without questioning the knowledge handed down by authorities. Descartes believed we needed to use our own thinking abilities to investigate, analyze, experiment, and develop our own well-reasoned conclusions supported with compelling truth. Descartes helped contrast the process of learning to construct knowledge by thinking independently with simply absorbing information from authorities. His effective use of “the natural light of reason” entails applying scientific disciple and analytic rigor to our explorations to ensure that the conclusions that we reach have genuine merit. He confesses in his philosophical journals that he has come to the conclusion that virtually everything he has been taught from authorities and other adults is questionable and likely false. He believed he needed to establish a fresh start on gaining true, well-supported beliefs by simply erasing his endorsement of anything he had previously been taught. He was convinced that committing oneself to a wholesale and systematic doubting of all things one has been taught to simply accepting without question is the only way to achieve clear, well-reasoned conclusions; additionally, it is the only way to develop beliefs that are truly yours and not someone else’s. Descartes’ quest for true knowledge leads to his famous first principle: Cogito ergo sum, which translates to, “I think, therefore I am.” The essence of existing as a human identity is the possibility of being aware of our selves meaning that having a self-identity and being self-conscious are mutually dependent on one another. Descartes believed that you are capable of being aware by engaging in these mental operations. If you were consistently unconscious of your mental operations, consistently unaware of your thinking, reasoning, and the perceiving of your processes, it would not be possible for you to have a self-identity. Descartes believed that your physical body is secondary to your personal identity; meaning that you can conceive of yourself existing independently of your body. Even though your body is not as central to yourself as is your capacity to think and reflect, it clearly plays a role in your self-identity. Descartes demonstrates the powerful influence by Plato’s thought in his distinction between the physical body (which he believes is material, mortal, and non-thinking) and an immortal, nonmaterial thinking self- governed by God’s will and the laws of reason (which is spiritual: mind and soul). He recognized the

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