Meditations, Part 1, Paragraph 8

In Meditations, Part 1, Paragraph 8, Descartes says now it is hard to doubt that you have a body. He says there are many things that are easy to doubt. Things like, physics, astronomy, medicine are doubtful because they are dependent on other things that must be true. You must form a hypothesis for those concepts. You must test out the hyposthesis. Those hypothesis' are considered to be true until they are proven false. So, who knows, things that we may think are true have the possibility to be determined as false. Things that you can not doubt are things like arithmetic and geometry. They have set quantities. D says that like in arithmetic 2+3=5. We know this and we do not doubt it because it is understood that 2 is 2 and 3 is 3 and when you put 2 and 3 together, it makes 5. Things that have a set meaning can not be doubted. Language is also undoubted I feel. Everyone understands that the word, table, means a structure that you can eat dinner on. Also, everyone understands that the word, chair, means a structure that you sit on.

Meditations, Part 1, Paragraphs 5&6

In meditations, part 1 in paragraphs 5&6, Descartes is talking about being asleep and being awake. He says that when you are awake, your eyes are open, your head is not heavy like when you are about to sleep, you can move you arm or finger and know that you are moving it because you can feel it. He says that when you are sleeping, these feelings are less distinct. Descartes says that the things you see in your dreams reflect the things that are real and true. D says that "...the things seen during slumber are, as it were, like painted images, which could only have been produced in the likeness of true things, and that therefore are at least these general things- eyes, head, hands, and the whole body are not imaginary things, but are true and exist." (page 61) He said that painters sometimes fuse parts together like let's just say, a human head on a horses body for instance, and we know this is false because no one in this world has ever seen that while they were awake. So, I think descartes is trying to compare dreaming to painting and art. In a painting, whatever is in the painting, came from the painter's imagination which can be anything. Painters also take the color a lot of the times from seeing things when they are awake. They paint grass green because in real life grass is green. So D thinks that in dreams you see grass as green because that is how you see it when you are awake. In dreams we see a lot of what we see when we are awake. By this reason Decartes feels and does not doubt that that is why he knows that we are awake and we do have a body and such things like time and shape do exist.

Methods PArt 1- imperfect

"But because being decieved and being mistaken appear to be a certain imperfection, the less powerful they take the author of my origin to be, the more probable it will be that I am so imperfect that I am always decieved." This strong quote by Descartes left me kind of confused. Is descartes out and out challenging the idea of God here? Is he mad at God for bestowing him imperfect and misunderstood? Or is he pointing out how imperfect God really is in his creation of human? Perhaps maybe he is just stating that what is thought of as imperfect has too much weight on the silly petty things. Everyone is decieved at some point, whether it be from someone superior or of authority, or from a sense or thought, or a pet dog??... Maybe too much thought is put into how each individual is wrong for some reason or another, maybe God wanted his creations to be slightly imperfect each in their own way? Or mayb God just has not yet mastered the makings of humans, which is why we are all at fault and imperfect...

Methods PArt 1-ANd AGiaN...

Okay so I began reading my section of the mathods part 1, and I am baflled to say that once again Descartes goes on about what is constant today, and has been this way from day 1. This time I see me and Descartes are on the same page, and it is pretty weird. I thought these things thinking that I was interpretting what his thoughts were regarding that previous part in discourse part5, and here it is a little later in the book and he says as I said he thought. "..namely that there exists a God who is able to do anything and by whom I, such as I am, have been created. ...and yet bringing it about that all these things appear to me to exist precisely as they do now?" Wow, Descartes took the words right out of my mouth. In my previous post I was just questioning this same matter. How do we know that what God created then is the same as we see now? How is it that everything is still run the same now as it was described on day 1 of creation? God has his very own sytem of running things, keeping them moving right on track.

Discourse PArt 5

As a last post on Discourse part 5, I found one last interesting part. On page twenty-five Descartes says this: "But it is certain that the action by which God preserves the world is precisely the same as that by which he created it..." This suggests that God had made everything in existence at one point, in this point that everything must be perfect and understandably functional; in this one shot this creation must all come together and last for an abundant amount of time. The world was put together like a puzzle, piece by piece. To this day, God has his same methods and ways of keeping the world going as his did on day one. Earth does not change, the constants surrounding us are not altered day to day. When we wake up in the morning, each as individuals, home is still home, your keys are right where you left them before you went to bed, the president is still the president, and the sun still rises in the same exact way with each morning. God has the whole universe running on "repeat". Minor things may change over time, but the majority of the bigger things are the same now as when God first made life.

"True or false?"...

Truth came from the senses but some senses were false. On quote from Descartes that I really liked was on page 60, “ It is a mark of prudence never to place our complete trust in those who have deceive us even once.” What would make Descartes blame everything on his senses? It is because you hear what you hear and see what you see? Or is it merely because he was betrayed by them at one point?

Meditation One: Doubt

Let's say your trying to bake a cake and it calls for 2 cups of flour. You measure that out, pour it into the mixing bowl and then you stopped what you were doing to answer the phone. When you came back you can not remember how many cups you already put into the bowl so you go and pour another cup (thinking you needed it). In actuality, you now put in 3 cups. You realize this after you already started mixing it. Now you have to start over again because the cake will be very very dry. In science and math if your ending or result of a problam is wrong you have to "knock everything down" and start from the beginning (scratch) again. Whatever was built upon truth that is false will crumble right back to the beginning stage to became true, meaning, you are better off starting out a problem containing doubt then to have a confidence and watch the problem fail and have to start over again. Descartes describes the four things he needed to do in order to remain sane and not have any doubt. He said he needed to free his mind of all cares, have a period of leisurely tranquility, be secluded, and apply himself 100%. What I don't undersatnd is why Descartes has all this doubt built up.

Part 5, Paragraph 10, Discourse on Method (pg 31)

In part 5, Paragraph 10 of Discourse, Descartes is explaining the brain of living things which he implies that both humans and animals are made with. He talks about the brain and its functions. How the brain uses the senses and the brain responds to light, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Also, he says the brain lets you have internal passions to think about when you are hungry, thirsty, sleeping, awake and dreaming. Also, Descartes says the brain has the capability to reserve memories and to have an imagination. He says when we want something for example, a message goes to our brain so that we are capable of obtaining what we want. But the thing I do not understand is that in this whole paragraph Descartes is pretty much grouping animals and humans together as one group, saying that because we have brains that this makes us and animals more powerful than anything that could be made by man. "For they will regard this body as a machine which, having been made by the hands of God, is incomparably better ordered and has within itself movements far more wondrous than any of those that can be invented by men." Does he contradict himself in the next two paragrahs when he goes on and on about how because animals do not have the same language as us, that they are no where near our intelligence level? I feel like in these 3 paragraphs, Descartes contradicts himself by saying we have the same internal organs (paragraph 10) yet animals are no where near the intelligence level of humans (paragraphs 11&12).

Part 5- Discourse

So i was really thinking about part 5 of the Discourse and I don't really know why Descartes is so obsessed with the blood flowing through the body. He seems to be very interested with how our bodies are so complex unlike other things. The most important part of our body is our heart considering it gives us warmth and blood flow. How would he know so much about the body in the 1600's? I just find this very interesting espeically after taking biology classes and learning how everything works and him being on target without all of the equiptment that we have today.

"Circle of Life"

There is also a part in my section that speaks of the vena cava, which “ is like the trunk of a tree of which the other veins of the body are the branches…” I pictured a tree and was able to relate the trunk of the tree as being the family, which grows and overcomes obstacles. I was thinking that maybe the circulation of the blood is relating to the circle of life, (yes, I thought of the Lion King!) because then you grow up, go out on your own (well most of us do), get married and have a family. This pattern repeats itself from generation to generation like a circle.

Descartes speaks a lot about light and heat in Part 5 of the Discourse. One particular quote that intrigues me is this: " ..how sometimes it has only heat but light, and sometimes only light but no heat...how it can consume nearly all of them or turn them into ashes and smoke.." (page 25). This excerpt is obviously pertaining to light and heat and the powers they possess. You can have both at one time, or one and not the other at one time, and yet they might be so powerful still, and have such different effects on things. Light is what we solely depend on, as we need it from any and all sources, as with heat; it is necessary for life. You can just be in awe looking at light; you may be comforted by the sense brought by heat. All things around us depend on heat and light, and really, do we ever think about these two things? I know I never do. And how important are they? Without one or the other, we would not survive, earth would not be, living would not live. And of all the wondrous uses they possess, and complexity of them, you never think of how much is dependant on them. They are everywhere, used in the making of so many things, they give off vital productions...and is it too much, or too abstract and forward to say we take advantage of heat and light? Is this wrong?

Discourse PArt 5

On page 23, Discartes says "certain laws that God has so established in nature, and of which he has impressed in our souls such notions, that, after having reflected sufficiently on these matters, we cannot doubt that are stictly adhered to in everything that exists or occurs in the world." I think that this is a great opening to such deep concepts in which after this statement he further goes into. It amazes me how Descartes puts his words in such a way that means such a particular thing, but can still vary so much. What I believe he is really trying to prove is life, and why it is the way it is, why we do the things we do, why we know the things we know. There is no doubt to these set laws, nothing will ever change these things, nor will anyone ever attempt to. It is the way it is, and by "it" I mean life. God has set up these rules that we must play by, no if's and's or but's about it. No one would dare question them, it would be absurd. Its a natural knowledge that we, as humans are born with, and even animals, plants, our environment, all of these things that make up the world are on a set schedule of what to do and how to do it. Subtle things happen by themselves with no effort from the ones it happens to, like perhaps growing and how one grows, and what may grow and when. The clock always ticks forward and the rules remain the same with every tick. This will never be altered; the game rules are built inside us.

..."only the strong survive"

The last sentence in my section which speaks about blood on page 31, top paragraph, reads "...the weakest and least agitated must be puched aside by the strongest which by this means arrive there alone." The strongest parts move towards one of our most complex parts of our body, the brain. When I read this I feel like it is survival of the fittest and "only the strong will survive." Therefore, the weakest cannot always succeed in our society. This is another analogy on life, which is true for all humans and animals. How does one expect to achieve anything with out a little will-power?

Discourse Part 5, Paragraph 12

In Discourse part 5 in paragraph 12, Descartes puts forth a very strong opinion that he believes in God. Descartes says, "...for, after the error of those who deny the existence of God (which I think I have sufficiently refuted)...". It seems as though he really wants his readers to know that he beleives in the existence of God. He also makes it seem like you are wrong if you deny the existence of God.

Discourse Part 5, Paragraphs 10&11

In Discourse on Method, Part 5 in paragraphs 10 and 11 Descartes says how humans are different from animals. Descartes says that language and how humans declare their thoughts to others is far more intellectual than any animal is capable of. He does go on and say how some animals such as parrots and monkeys may be able to say some words but when you put those words together, humans are not able to have a conversation with them. Descartes says that humans are like machines and they are put together so perfectly and that is why they are capable of reason and intelligence. He says that our intelligence is what gives humans the idea to use their voice to produce words which leads to language and conversation. Descartes says that language is the reason why humans have intelligence and animals do not but why is language the only factor. Animals do things like humans everyday. Animals in the wild must find food, have a shelter for protection, protect their kin and fend for themselves. Just because animals do not communicate like we do, why is it that they are not intelligent?

Descartes: Discourse Part 5

During the Part 5 Discourse, there is alot being said about the human body and how we are so complex. Descartes goes into detail about the heart and all the specifics, such as blood flow and body warmth. One part that really interested me was on page 27 where he speaks about the eleven membranes which act like doors opening and closing. He said this causes the blood to move in one direction and cannot go backwards. To me this sounds like an analogy on life, as if he is saying that you can only go in one direction in life; fowards. You cannot go back in time, so you have to keep moving ahead.