Understanding Descartes’ Philosophical Concepts
Evidence: The nature by which something is conceived in a clear and distinct manner, i.e., what is presented clearly to our reason in detail and distinct (clearly and distinctly). Something conceived in this way leaves no room for doubt and trial will be true. The criterion of truth in the ratio of what is directly conceived is true without any doubt (rejecting the senses and imagination). Existence: Descartes used this term to indicate the mode of being of man in the world. Existence is the mode of being proper to the creature and is the substance, i.e., the Divine Being that sustains and creates, “cogito ergo sum.” Precipitation: One of the two factors that Descartes proposes to enter into the rules of his method, “The Methodical Doubt.” It does not advance the true character of something unless it is evident. Prevention: A factor to avoid the rules of the method of Descartes that does not immediately negate what is obviously true. Clarity: Everything that is presented clearly to our reason can be said to be captured by details and intuition. Distinction: Everything that is not confused with anything else, unmistakable in its simplicity. Chains of Reasons: This concept refers to the third rule of the Cartesian method, where all things are arranged according to their complexity. Despite all this knowledge, they are united by what Descartes intends, starting from the simplest skills and learning to leave the more complex, following the chain of reasons. Idea: The form of a thought, whose immediate perception is aware of such thinking. Every idea is a reality as an act of thought, and reality that Descartes called objective, inasmuch as it represents an object (they are “pictures” or “images” of roses). God: An infinite substance. According to Descartes, this substance is extremely perfect and contains nothing that has a defect or limitation of perfection. Reason: The ability to judge well and distinguish truth from falsehood, which is called good sense or reason. Descartes reintroduced in the modern world the ancient concept of reason as the guidance of mankind. Thought: By this word, Descartes means all mental content, everything that is in the mind. In the “Meditations,” he tells us that “to think” means “everything that comes to us so that we perceive immediately by ourselves; for this, not only understanding, willing, imagining, but also feeling the same thing here to think.” Of all these experiences, it is having an immediate perception, as they have in common, using our language, consciousness, being conscious or able to be. All thoughts are unusual in resisting the attacks of doubt. Substance: For Descartes, everything that exists needs nothing to exist. God is substance and does not need anything, and its essence explains its existence. Also, res cogitans are finite substances (they receive from God the ultimate cause of their existence).
Body: The natural object in general, i.e., any possible object of science. Descartes extended the concept of substance. “The nature of matter or body in general consists not only of being hard or heavy but also of being an extended substance in height, width, and depth.” Alma: In general, the principle of life, sensitivity, and spiritual activities, as if it is an entity or substance. “I substance or thinking (the thinking being) according to Descartes.” Certainty: 1 – Security of objective truth as a guarantee of knowledge. 2 – Offering knowledge of its truth. The first Cartesian rule (not to accept as true …) establishes this identity, which the cogito itself is the act that allows, through certainty, that “I” get the very existence of the very principle of truth. Doubt: Cartesian doubt is the critical phase of this type of knowledge in Descartes’ own time. Although the question can be extended (through the evil genius hypothesis) to mathematical sciences, there is no doubt for Descartes that they are removed from uncertainty and therefore allow them to obtain precisely the rules of the method. Geocentrism: The theory that states that the Earth is at the center of the universe, with all other planets revolving around it in circular orbits at constant speed. Due to its incompatibility with Aristotelian physics and the complexity of the system, it was replaced by the heliocentric model, where the sun is located at the center of the universe, and the Earth is considered just another planet. Intuition: 1 – The concept that is so attentive and pure intelligence that there is no possible doubt; the concept of reason born alone and whose certainty is greater because of its greater simplicity than deduction. 2 – Immediate uptake of a simple truth with understanding, as we understand the simplest truths of mathematics, such as 2 + 2 = 4. Minus: The method by which we know something by its certainty, without it being self-evident, as the rationalist philosopher states. It is a certain movement or succession of the mind (more precisely, the reason), which depends on memory: deduction is not needed as evidence of the intuition of a present, but it takes, in a sense, all its certainty from memory, which is intuition. Cogito: It is absolute evidence first, the only thing that resists methodical doubt. Method: The way proposed by Descartes to uncover the truth. It is based on the idea that all human beings share reason and common sense, as all are rational beings. The method is Cartesian and does not admit any claim that has not been proven as true. From these initial truths intuited, it follows the rest of knowledge. Subject: The human being considered as one who thinks. In the first search for truth beyond all doubt, Descartes is recognized as a subject that thinks, and thus, even if one thinks it is false, it is true that one thinks. The attribute of the subject is, therefore, thought. The body is not part of the subject, but is a different substance, although in the case of man, it is closely linked to the soul and reason. Thought, like the body, is also a substance.