Please choose one of the following arguments from Descartes’s First or SecondMeditations and, in approximately 2–3 pages (double spaced), do the following:
(1) briefly explain in your own words what the argument is supposed to
prove and how (focus only on the argument you have chosen; you should
not summarize the rest of the text); (2) bring up an apparently serious
objection to the argument; (3) explain how Descartes would respond to the
objection.
Needless to say, this should be your own original work. You probably should
not need to use external sources for this assignment, but, if you do, you must cite
them. If you have any questions about what plagiarism is or how to avoid it,
you can ask me, or consult the resources listed on the Library website.
For possible consequences of plagiarism, see the Academic Misconduct
Policy.
AI policy: I encourage the use of AI assistance with proper caution
(i.e., keeping in mind that current AI is often wrong). You may use AI
assistance basically in any way that would not constitute cheating if you
used a human for the same thing. Similarly, you should cite the AI in
cases where you would cite a human. If in doubt, feel free to ask me for
clarification.
Note that this is not a full scale paper — you need not, and should not, write
an introduction and conclusion, summarize other parts of the Meditations, etc.
Just please focus on doing (1)–(3) above.
Also note: to do this well you need to come up with an objection that is
serious and think of a good way for Descartes to respond to it. The worse you can
make things look for Descartes — as long as you can still get him out of it in the
end! — the better your paper.
Objections based on modern technology (or imaginary future technology) are
discouraged. If you think of such an objection, see if you can come up with a
similar one that involves only things Descartes himself knew about or imagined.
(In most cases that should be possible. For example, you could use a powerful evil
demon.)
Please write the number of the argument you have chosen at the beginning of
your paper (you don’t need to quote it).
You can find answers to some commonly asked questions about my
assignments and grading in my FAQ.
Text passages
1.
“Some years ago I was struck by the large number of falsehoods that I had
accepted as true in my childhood, and by the highly doubtful nature of the
whole edifice that I had subsequently based on them. I realized that it was
necessary, once in the course of my life, to demolish everything completely
and start again right from the foundations if I wanted to establish anything
at all in the sciences that was stable and likely to last.” (AT 17, p. 76)
2.
“Reason leads me to think that I should hold back my assent from opinions
which are not completely certain and indubitable just as carefully as I do
from those which are patently false. So, for the purpose of rejecting all my
opinions, it will be enough if I find in each of them at least some reason for
doubt.” (AT 18, p. 76)
3.
“But such people are insane, and I would be thought equally mad if I took
anything from them as a model for myself. A brilliant piece of reasoning!
As if I were not a man who sleeps at night, and regularly has all the same
experiences while asleep as madmen do when awake — indeed sometimes
even more improbable ones.” (AT 19, p. 77)
4.
“But perhaps God would not have wished me to be deceived in this
way, since he is said to be supremely good. But if it were inconsistent with
his goodness to have created me such that I am deceived all the time, it
would seem equally foreign to his goodness to allow me to be deceived even
occasionally; yet this last assertion cannot be made [in the French version:
“yet I cannot doubt that he does allow this”].” (AT 21, p. 78)
5.
“I am, I exist — that is certain. But for how long? For as long as I am
thinking. For it could be that were I totally to cease from thinking, I should
totally cease to exist. At present I am not admitting anything except what
is necessarily true. I am, then, in the strict sense only a thing that thinks.”
(AT 27, p. 82)
6.
“But what then am I? A thing that thinks. What is that? A thing that
doubts, understands, affirms, denies, is willing, is unwilling, and also imagines
and has sensory perceptions.” (AT 28, p. 83)
7.
“For example, I am now seeing light, hearing a noise, feeling heat. But I
am asleep, so all this is false. Yet I certainly seem to see, to hear, and to be
warmed. This cannot be false; what is called ‘having a sensory perception’ is
strictly just this, and in this restricted sense of the term it is simply thinking.”
(AT 29, p. 83)