Descartes’ Methodical Doubt and Metaphysical Foundations
Descartes’ Method: Justification Part 4
Justification Part 4 – Descartes had discovered his method by considering the mathematical procedure. But it is about giving a general formulation, to be able to apply to all branches of knowledge. It is necessary to justify the method itself and the possibility of universal application, reaching to its ultimate foundation, that is, the subjectivity of man. This justification is given for its metaphysical inquiry. In Part Four of the Discourse on Method, Descartes
Read MoreEthical Principles: Key Concepts and Theories
Item 9
What is an indispensable condition for the existence of ethics?
The man and his intelligence and freedom
Is there a relationship between good and truth?
To do good is to act respecting the truth.
How can you define good?
The good is what it is naturally a thing, which perfects it, regardless of pleasure or pain that results
What is meant by the perfection of something?
The maximum degree of similarity with the model is taken as a perfect
What is the relativist argument par excellence?
The discrepancy
Read MoreDescartes and Spinoza: Cartesian Method, Metaphysics, and Ethics
Descartes: The Cartesian Method
The Cartesian method is a procedure followed to obtain the truth. This procedure should adhere to clearly defined rules. The system is a set of truths obtained through the application of the method and intended as a description and explanation of reality. Descartes believed in the unity of method, convinced of the need to unify knowledge and thinking through a unified research method.
Assumptions of the Method
- Reason is qualified by nature to reach the truth.
- Education
Nietzsche’s Critique of Western Culture, Metaphysics, and Morality
**Nietzsche’s Critique of Western Culture**
Nietzsche criticizes the totality of thought and culture in the West. Nihilism is the process by which the meaning of life is lost. The strength of the spirit of the West is exhausted by inadequate and fictitious values, based on the fear of life, and represented by Christianity. We can distinguish between:
- a) Passive: Loss of validity of the old values.
- b) Active: Capacity of destroying them and creating new ones.
Nietzsche’s thought is a hymn to life.
**Critique
Read MoreRousseau, Kant: Social Contract, Judgments, and Critique of Pure Reason
Rousseau: The Social Contract and the General Will
To improve society and ensure equality and freedom, Rousseau proposes the social contract: an agreement between citizens to obey the laws, giving rise to civil or political and moral freedom. This is achieved through the general will: a collective, permanent, and rational desire to act in the community’s best interest. The general will is the union of all individual wills in a society.
- Social Contract: An agreement where each person places themselves
Plato’s Theory of Ideas: Understanding Reality and Knowledge
Belief: “Knowledge” that rests on natural things and not copies thereof. So is the top level of the opinion. By relying on the senses, it cannot be authentically knowledge. It is the field of natural research.
Relegation Back to the Cave
He who has agreed to a higher life and knowledge feels sorry for the sad existence of his former colleagues. So I will come down to teach the truth to his former colleagues. It is the image of the philosopher who decides to govern instead of dwelling on the “island
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