Reference no: EM133590426
Assignment:
1. In the Regulae, Descartes insists that learning can be put on a new foundation, if we emulate the method of mathematics. Nevertheless, in the first meditation, the third meditation, and Principle V, Descartes urges that mathematics can be shown to be dubitable. Finally, in the Replies to the Second Set of Objections (pages 100-104 in our Descartes' Meditations book), Descartes proposes a new method for the study of metaphysics (the subject-matter of the Meditations), which he calls 'analysis'.
a) Discuss fully Descartes' reasons in the Regulae for holding that Mathematics is certain, God-given, and can be a model for other areas of learning.
b) Discuss fully Descartes' reasons for holding in the first and third meditations and the Principles of Philosophy (Principle V) that mathematics can be shown to be dubitable.
c) Discuss fully the reasons why Descartes, in the Replies to the Second Set of Objections (pages 100-104), rejects the method of Geometry-he calls it 'synthesis', and introduces a new method-he calls it 'analysis'-for studying metaphysics, the subject matter of the Meditations.
2. Discuss fully Descartes' approach in the first meditation to establishing that sense perception cannot provide the first principles of human knowledge.
3. In the first proof of God's existence in the third meditation, Descartes attempts to prove that only God could have created Descartes' idea of God. Discuss fully Descartes' proof for this.