Discourse - part 2

My plan has never gone beyond trying to reform my own thoughts and building upon foundation which is completely my own. And if, my work having pleased me sufficiently, I here show you a model of it, it is not for reason that i would wish to advise anyone to imitate it.

Des cartes is trying to say he is always trying to make himself better than what he was the day before. But also he isn't tryig to make anyone follow the path that he went down and to use his methods to succeed. But he will tell you how and why he does what he does.

Discourse 2-Paragraph 13

And thus, too, I thought that, because we were all children before being men and because for a long time it was necessary for us to be governed by our appetites and our teachers (which were frequently in conflict with one another, and of which perhaps neither always gave us the best advice), it is nearly impossible for our judgements to be as pure or as solid as they would have been if we had had the full use of our reason from the moment of our birth and if we had always been guided by it alone.

Descartes is saying by being taught certain things, ,it has caused and confusion and conflict in their minds and also with the teachers(as if they didnt agree with one another). If they were able to to go off of there own ideas and judgements they would have had a better understanding of things. He also is saying if they were ecouraged to use there judgements, understanding would have been more clear.

Meditation 3-Paragraph 37

Now as far as ideas are concerned, if they are considered alone and in their own right, without being referred to something else, they cannot, properly speaking, be false.

Descartes is saying if you have an idea, with things just pertaining to that idea, they cannot be false. On the other hand, if that idea contains things that is outside of its context it can be question and be stated as being false.

Meditations- Perception of God/Himself

"Thus the perception of the infinite is somehow prior in me to the perception of the finite, that is, my perception of God is prior to my perception of myself."



I really found this quote to be interesting. As I started to analyze it, it didn't make sense to me. The perception of the infinite (not having limitations or not having boundaries) is somehow prior to himself to the perception of the finite (having limitations and having boundaries) ??? I kept thinking about what Descartes could possibly be trying to say and now I think I'm starting to understand. I believe that Descarte is comparing himself to God. He is a bounded version of God. God has no limitations whereas on the other hand, Descarte has boundaries. Descartes cant possibly be God because he is not "wholly perfect." I feel that Descartes is questioning the fact that he is not perfect and he is having a hard time trying to figure out why.

Meditations- Judgements

"Now the principal and most frequent error to be found in judgments consists in the fact that I judge that the ideas which are in me are similar to or in conformity with certain things outside me."


I believe that Descartes has a very hard time just believing what he hears. I believe this because of Descartes Four Rules. He had mentioned in the Discourse Part 2 about the Four Rules in which they would be very sufficent for himself. Rule 1 states "never to accept anything as true that I did not plainly know to be such." Applying this rule to the comment that Descartes made in the Meditations proves to me that Descartes feels that its a very common mistake. I believe that he feels very strongly on having/trying to make the right judgement with the right information instead of judging ideas with information that he cannot back up.

Meditations -Analyzing Objects

"Be that as it may, I have previously admitted many things as a wholly certain and evident that nevertheless I later discovered to be doubtful. What sort of things were these? Why, the earth, the sky, the stars, and all the other things I perceived by means of the senses."


As Im sure everyone knows by now, Descartes is constantly questioning everything. If he sees an object or has an idea anything, he somehow or another ends up being very unsure of it. He mentions the idea about the earth, sky and stars. These ideas were bought upon him. Descartes has a very hard time when he cant analyze things. I feel that Descartes completely contradicts himself. He clearly shows how he has a hard time believing in objects that are "outside of him," but the whole idea of God is never questioned.

Meditations 3- paragraph

But as far as impulses are concerned, in the past I have often judged myself to have been driven by them to make the poorer choice when it was a question of choosing a good; and I fail to see why I should place any greater faith in them than in other matters.


i feel descartes is saying that his natural impulses are wrong and poor because he did not think about them morally and if God would approve of them. He says in the beginning of this paragraph that he has been taught by nature and that he is driven by spontaneous impulses to believe and nature is not showing him the truth. So there has to be a higher being which is God who has to show him the truth.

Meditations 3-(Para. 51)

But the mere fact that God created me makes it highly plausible that I have somehow been made in his image and likeness, and that I percieve this likeness, in which the idea of God is contained, by means of the same faculty by which I perceive myself.

I think he is saying he believes in God if he did make him. And he likes God because he was created this way-in his image. So since he was created in his image the thought of God to him is wonderful becuase he figures in some ways they must be alike.

Meditations 3-Paragraph 44(Falsity)

For although a short time ago I noted that falsity properly so called (or "formal" falsity) is to be found only in judgements, nevertheless there is another kind of falsity (called "material" falsity) which is found in ideas whenever they represent a non-thing as it were a thing.

Formal falsity- I think he is trying to say only judgements and thoughts could be false. And what he is saying about material falsity is when thoughts are conveyed as being an object and when you consider objects you think of it being a fact. So he is saying its a non-thing not an thing so it can have falsity.

Existence

"All I have in mind is that I am driven by a spontaneous impulse to believe this, and not that some light of nature is showing me that it is true."

Descarte is examining the existence of multiple things. He states in this section on how he understands what a thing is, what truth is, and what thought is. This section really gets you thinking. How do you know truly what an object is? Descarte mainly focuses on God. No one has seen God.. no one truly knows if he exists. But I find it interesting that Descarte questions all other objects as simple as hearing a noise, looking at the sun, or even feeling fire but yet he still does not question anything related to God.

"The result is that, of all the ideas that are in me, the idea that I have of God is the most true, the most clear and distinct."

Architect

" Thus one sees that buildings undertaken and completed by a single architect are usually more attractive and better ordered than those which many architects have tried to patch up by using old walls that had been built for other purposes."

When reading this quote, the idea of a single mind vs. a group think came into my head. Descarte is again stating how a single mind is better overall. I understand how he's states a building that a single architect handles is better ordered, but I feel that he is just stating the obvious. If a building is under the power of a single architect, nothing is really given the opportunity to be not well ordered.

I seem to disagree with Descarte when he refers to the part with many architects. I got very confused when he stated that they "have tried to patch up by using old walls that had been built for other purposes." I interpreted this section of the quote by having Descarte seem to believe that the more people that work together, the more mistakes occur. Having a group of architects work together is almost rushing/not caring as much as a single architect would.

Meditations 3- The existance of God

In meditation III, Descartes says that perception and imagination exists because it comes to him in his mind. He thinks about the existance of God and wonders if there is anything that keeps him from believing God is NOT real. He believes God is all powerful and finite but then again he believes that he is finite. He questions God and his perceptions and imaginations of Him.

Meditations 3- Descartes doubts...

In the beginning of Meditation 3 Des cartes classifys the meditators thoughts into different kinds of parts 1- ideas 2- volitions 3- emotions 4- judgements. I understand where he is coming from with these different kinds because when you think about something- you always think of "ideas" to make a situation better or maybe worst. Voilitions are the acts of making a choice at the end you have to think about your final decision. Emotions come into part with thinking about something you have to use emotions about what you feel about something. And judgements are always used to make the right decision.

Four Rules

Descartes came about four rules sufficient for him...
These are my interpretations of the rules...

Rule 1- Don't believe everything you hear unless you have proof that tells you otherwise.

Rule 2- Focus on seperating the difficulties and looking into them; pulling out the different aspects in order to understand them more and to resolve them.

Rule 3- Put thoughts in order from easiest to more complicated. Descartes is saying by putting the easiets things to know first you have a better understanding of the complicated thoughts; even if they don't go hand and hand.

Rule 4- List the progressions:then study and view them making sure everything is there and nothing is left out.

I was wondering does anyone see them this way or do they think Descartes is saying something differnet....

4 Rules

Upon reading The Discourse Part Two, I took a great interest in Descartes 4 rules. He believed by formulating these rules, they would be very sufficient to him.. only if he made a firm and constant resolution not even once to fail to observe them. Rule 1: never accept anything as true that I did not plainly know to be such- Descarte, in my opinion, is trying to avoid prejudice and only believe what he thinks. The words and actions of others will not influence his own judgements. Rule 2: divide each of the difficulties I would examine into as many parts as possible and as was required in order better to resolve them- I feel that this rule follows along with rule 1. He will examine every little piece in order to come to a final conclusion. Like in rule 1, he will not just follow along with a crowd. He will stand out and say what he truly believes is right after he analyzes everything. Rule 3: conduct his own thoughts in an orderly fashion- Rather then trying to figure out the actions of others, he'll first try to figure out other things. I feel that Descarte is relating these 4 rules around the actions of others. He states in the text that when he was younger he studied a little bit of everything. By knowing that, I feel that he is very interested in what people are thinking and why people are interested in what they are interested in. Rule 4: everywhere to make enumerations so complete and reviews so general that I was assured of having omitted nothing- This rule is just to assure that he covered/understands everything.

Value of a single thinker

Descartes believes in a single person works better than a group because there is one single plan to go by. But what is the value of a single thinker? I believe the value is less chaos and does not bring up fights throughout the process of whatever people may be doing. But i also see negative effects such as only one opinion, there is not just one good opinio or idea. Not just one person's answer is right.

Discourse 2 Paragraph 15

2 Types of Minds????

1st mind- PPl believe that they are more than what they really are-meaning they think too highly of themselves...These are the ppl that are always in a rush and never take time out to think..which causes them to always be out of order, however they see themselves in a whole different way(they are into themselves)I think Descartes is saying these ppl who think highly of themselves and don't take time out to think will always have confusion in there lives..it will be hard for these ppl to move foward...There lives will always be a rat race!

2nd mind- These are the ppl who understand they don't know everything and don't go about pretending that they do. These are the ppl that learn from others instead of going off of there own opions...however, they are unsure of of whats the truth and whats false from what they hear from others...