Descartes Unit 1

1. The Wiki article interprets the quote to be the foundations of Descartes theory stating that you use the old foundations on which you are taught to base other new knowledge which can be found. When in reality Descartes was talking about his past experience with ideas and thought, making the claim that at one point he firmly believed that he could succeed in life believing in the old foundations of knowledge he gleaned and the principles of human nature he took at face value in his youth, but after careful examination he came to the conclusion that this is not the case and that everything must be questioned.

2. first, is to not accept anything for truth that he did not clearly know as truth
second, to break apart the problem into many parts in order to work through each to find a sound conclusion
third, to work through a problem from simplest concept to more complex
fourth, is to make sure every calculation is correct so that nothing is omitted that could hinder the examination.


3. Descartes in Shorto's eyes started the modern movement with his ideas that lead to the scientific method. Descartes tried to reconcile the differences between faith and reason by creating his mind body theory which allowed him to describe everything in reality with empirical evidence and allow the world faith to still be intact and unquestioned (relatively)



4. The battle between fundamental theists and secular radicalism, The idea that god rules the universe and all can be explained through him or that the universe is just material and can be explained by reason. Also the people who are left in between the two, like Descartes, that are trying to find the balance between faith and reason.

Questions regarding the Book Lady's Blog.

5. The center of worldly power at the time, the church. The church felt threatened because essentially the Cartesian method wanted people to break down what they took for truth and build upon with things that make as little assumptions about the world as possible. Descartes theory was advocating a new generation of independent thinkers that would second guess everything the church wanted.

6. She simply describes Modernity as reason. This simplified description of modernity fails to capture true essence of what separates modernity and traditionalism (which she describes as religion). Modernity is not about out rightly rejecting religion (as most people seem to think) it is about questioning the axioms on which the foundations of culture and knowledge rest, which in Descartes life both were Dictated by the Church.


7. Shorto thinks the proposal contained in Descartes discourse is to ground knowledge not from the bible or kings, but solely from human reason.

8. This change in academic writing practiced by Descartes opened up the general public to the ideas be presented at the scholarly level. Philosophy was no longer something that solely discussed within the confines of the academic elite. It was a subject to be tackled by the masses allowing them to glean information and start to think critically within their own lives.


9. Shorto thinks that Descartes gave legitimacy to the scientific inquiries at the time by giving a bases of knowledge that can solely rely on human reasoning without the believe in supernatural powers (fewer assumptions)

10. Shorto believes that Descartes was the birth of modern thought because he took everything he knew and doubted it until he found one thing (thinking) in which he could base his reasoning upon. I think Shorto has a rudimentary understanding of Descartes and writes a highly romanticized version of what he stood for. He makes it seem as if Descartes was the original thinker that came up with the first version of the scientific method, when in reality Descartes was simply building upon the foundations of Ockham and all the other "modern" philosophers that came before him, that preferred natural observation to supernatural superstition.