Within Part 4 of the Discourse, Descartes discusses how he had learned a lot through his life in the areas of philosophy, logic, and mathematics. He says, though, that what he had learned was not necessarily correct because it was the teachings of other people and it was what he had grown to believe was right. After thinking about that he then goes on to tell us about how he has formed four rules to apply to his analysis of these subjects so that he may discover the truth in it all. After applying his four rules to his work he realizes that it was so successful that he decides to apply this new method to all of his work so that he can avoid any wrong opinions or misconceptions.
-April
Hi..You said..He says, though, that what he had learned was not necessarily correct because it was the teachings of other people and it was what he had grown to believe was right.-Refering to the two types of minds-this is the 2nd type of 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...I thought this may help you understand the 2nd type of mind where he says he would have been among that group...
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with Sharde's comment because I don't think that he was talking about the two types of minds. I think he was just talking about judgements. He talks about how the judgements he had were not his own. He believed that the judgements were based on what his teachers or parents or friends tell him
ReplyDeleteI posted a comment to this blog. However I dont understand how it got deleted...
ReplyDeleteWell Im posting my comment again..On page 9-Descartes says"And as for myself, I would unquestionably have been counted among these latter persons if I had always had only one master or if I had not known at all the differences that have always existed among my opinions of the most learned"-so he is saying among the two types of minds he would have been in the 2nd group...Also in SPARKNOTES it says-Descartes would count himself among this second group if he hadn't had such a number of teachers and embarked on so many travels as to realize that the opinions of even learned men vary greatly..so from this I got that he was refering to the two types of minds which includes what ppl know and what they learn..
ReplyDeleteOkay, i can see where eugenia is coming from on her comment, but after Sharde explained herself i saw where she got her thoughts from. But he also says his perceptions maybe getting in the way of his reasonings and that his new reason will have to be exclusively. So he still maybe getting things incorrect because he can't see past his perceptions. So he can't avoid wrong opinions and misconceptions totally with other work.
ReplyDeleteI can see where you're coming from as far as when you mention Descartes learning a lot throuhgout his life and him not really believing that the knowledge that he gained was factual. He mentioned how people shouldn't read books because they are filled more of opinions than actual facts, but where are we supposed to get the right information from in the case where the events occured many years earlier?? It's not like we can go find the person and ask them what REALLY happened.. So what is there to do??
ReplyDeletei like this last question, because much of this dispute trades on what we regard as the authority for figuring out what the truth is--it's easy to tell when you have a dispute, but it's tricky to figure out what would count as a solution to the dispute.
ReplyDeleteWhen there is a situation like this where the author has past away the truth cannot be found. Like Kamilah said, we can't just go walk over and ask them because they are dead. I think that truth can't be found in cases like this because there are so many different ideas and views of what Descartes means in his books. It is very possible that someone out there is right on the money and has it right, but how are we to know? We won't know anything for sure.
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