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Descartes' Meditations I and II (1641)

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Descartes' Meditations I and II (1641) Descartes’ Meditations I and II (1641) Rene Descartes – Basic Biographical Information • He was born in La Haye, France in 1596. Although a Catholic, Descartes would grow up in an area (Poitou) where Huguenots were prevalent. • His father, Joachim, was a minor nobleman and judge • Descartes’ mother Jeanne died of tuberculosis when he was 1 • Descartes went to a new school in La Fleche called Henri le Grand, from 1606- 1614. He received a solid grounding in mathematics and scholastic philosophy from the Jesuits who taught there. • Descartes later got a law degree from the Univ. of Poitiers but never practiced law • In 1618, just before the start of the Thirty Years War, he enlisted in the Protestant leader Maurice of Nassau’s army in Breda, where he trained troops as a military engineer. • Later, he joined the Catholic Duke Maximilian of Bavaria’s army. As one of its officers, he was present at the Battle of White Mountain. • In 1620, he left the military and traveled for several years through Germany and Italy. He also spent time in Paris, where he befriended poets like Jean- Louis Guez de Balzac and Theophile de Viau, gambled heavily and was involved in a duel over a woman. In 1628 he moved to Holland, where he would stay for the next 20 years. He found Holland more tolerant than France. • It is unclear how Descartes supported himself during this time although he was a gentleman of some means who had an inheritance that he invested in bonds. Some scholars also allege that he may have earned money as a spy. More biographical information • In 1649 Descartes was offered a lucrative job as a tutor to Queen Christina of Sweden, with whom he had been in correspondence over several years about his writings. • Unfortunately for him, the job required that Descartes get up early every day to give the queen lessons starting around 5 AM since the queen had affairs of state to attend to later. • In 1650 Descartes came down with pneumonia. He never recovered from it and died in Stockholm that year. Descartes wrote a number of important works • While he wrote The World (1630-1633), a book on cosmology influenced by Copernicus’ ideas, Descartes’ two most famous books are philosophical works, his Discourse on the Method (1637) and Metaphysical Meditations (1641) • Each work reflects the challenge posed to tradition and authority by new discoveries in math and science during the Early Modern Period. • What had seemed true for hundreds of years – e.g., Aristotle and Ptolemy’s geocentric view of the universe – was now increasingly being put into doubt. • Not just theories but also whole systems of thought were being overturned. • In his Meditations Descartes asks therefore whether there is anything one can know with certainty. Use of methodological doubt to find a solid foundation • Descartes initially thinks that knowledge revealed to him by his senses is certain. • He then calls that into doubt. He realizes that while dreaming, his senses could deceive him. • Next, he considers where necessary truths, such as those of mathematics or logic, are more reliable. • But here also, there are problems. For example, it is possible that there could be an evil demon who could deceive him recording such statements as: “2 + 3 = 5 Descartes’ 1) evil demon; and 2) cogito ergo sum • Descartes realizes, though, that even if some evil demon were tricking him, one thing cannot be denied: that there is some thing being deceived, some thinking thing. • And the fact that he is doubting his existence suggests that he does in fact exist (some subject must be doing the doubting). • This leads to what is Descartes believes is the foundation for knowledge: the statement, “I think, therefore I am.” (cogito, ergo sum) The wax argument • Descartes considers whether or not a physical object could be considered a permanent feature of reality. • He uses a piece of wax as an example. • He notes that if the piece of wax is exposed to fire, it will melt. • While melting, a number of its properties change (e.g., shape or texture or color) • If he still considers it a piece of wax, it is ultimately because of his understanding. The identity of a substance persists even if its properties change • Also important for Descartes is the notion that we can a clear and distinct idea of what substance is • The fact that something or idea is clear and distinct is going to be one of Descartes’ criteria for truth Cartesian Dualism • Any kind of philosophical position that divides the world into two completely distinct substances or kinds of things is referred to as dualism. • The distinction can be between spirit and matter, immaterial and material, supernatural and natural, good and evil, etc. • For Descartes the division is between mind and body. The mind is subject to the laws of reason but is otherwise free. The body, on the other hand, is like a machine. It is governed by the laws of physics and is subject to cause and effect. The Mind-Body Problem • The mind and the body, for Descartes, are two entirely different kinds of entities or substances. • The basic feature of the mind is thought (or thinking). It is not found in space and is not extended. It is immaterial. • The basic feature of the body is its extension, the fact that it is extended (in terms of its length, breadth, depth, size, shape, etc.). It is material. • The realms of the mind and the body do not overlap and are thus completely different. • If all this is true, though, how do the mind and body interact? In other words, how can mental events have anything to do with physical events and vice versa? • Descartes is convinced that there must be some kind of interaction. He decides that it must take place in the brain, in the pineal gland. This is a problem, however, since the pineal gland is actually part of the body. Some Criticisms of Descartes • Gilbert Ryle, The Concept of Mind (1949): Descartes suggests that the mind (or soul) can continue to exist after the body has died but he can offer no proof of that. Ryle says that Descartes also can’t explain how the mind directs the body (“the ghost in the machine”). • Susan Bordo, The Flight to Objectivity (1987): Bordo is a feminist critic of Descartes. She thinks he is emblematic of an increasing masculinization of nature, an attempt to dominate the world by the use of reason. “Cartesian modernity is inherently linked to the repression of nature and women.” Its emphasis on rationality and objectivism has led to men and women’s widespread alienation from the natural world. The world is less a complex machine than an organic whole. • Bordo also argues that Descartes fails to recognize that women’s experiences are embodied experiences. You cannot separate people’s mental and physical lives. .
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