SQ-Descartes

E102B \|\| Winter 2016 \|\| The Thinking Self	Study Questions \|\| Descartes
	What does "I think, therefore I am" mean? How can you characterize Descartes’ doubt? What does it mean to say that Descartes’ method is a method of doubt? Explain: The destruction of all past beliefs compels transformation. Looking forward: How does Descartes's philosophical method anticipate Richardson's novelistic method? Hint: "writing to the moment." Why does Descartes use the dream hypothesis and the “evil genius” hypothesis? Descartes's trashing of the past has some equivalents in the fictions we read. What is the status of the past in Robinson Crusoe? Pamela? Descartes's Meditator does not have a body for some time. Why is the temporary denial of the body important to his thinking? And what kind of bodies inhabit (or are imagined in) Robinson Crusoe? Pamela? Why do you trust your senses? What do you trust your senses for? Imagine the world y0u would you live in if you did not trust your senses. What is the difference between trusting your senses in a pratical way and trusting them in a philosophical way? Does the trustworthiness of the senses emerge as an important issue in the fictions we read? Have you doubted your senses? Did you learn anything by doubting them? Can you see any problem with Decartes's underlying assumptions? What questions would you like to ask?

E102B || Winter 2016 || The Thinking Self

Study Questions || Descartes

cogito

Descartes-Meditations

What does "I think, therefore I am" mean?

How can you characterize Descartes’ doubt? What does it mean to say that Descartes’ method is a method of doubt?

Explain: The destruction of all past beliefs compels transformation.

Looking forward: How does Descartes's philosophical method anticipate Richardson's novelistic method? Hint: "writing to the moment."

Why does Descartes use the dream hypothesis and the “evil genius” hypothesis?

Descartes's trashing of the past has some equivalents in the fictions we read. What is the status of the past in Robinson Crusoe? Pamela?

Descartes's Meditator does not have a body for some time. Why is the temporary denial of the body important to his thinking? And what kind of bodies inhabit (or are imagined in) Robinson Crusoe? Pamela?

Why do you trust your senses? What do you trust your senses for? Imagine the world y0u would you live in if you did not trust your senses.

What is the difference between trusting your senses in a pratical way and trusting them in a philosophical way?

Does the trustworthiness of the senses emerge as an important issue in the fictions we read?

Have you doubted your senses? Did you learn anything by doubting them?

Can you see any problem with Decartes's underlying assumptions?

What questions would you like to ask?