Post- Cartesian Philosophy- David Hume

Full Text of Hume: click HERE

After Reading pp. 1-4, answer the following in the Comments Section of this posting. Complete prior to class on Tuesday. 

1. Describe Descartes' legacy- is it more of a quantity or quality type of impact?

2. How does Hume describe the 1st treatment of philosophy?

3. How does Hume describe moral philosophy in the second way?

4. Which philosophy do you agree with more? Why?

5. If pragmatism is defined as" a philosophical approach that assesses the truth of meaning of theories or beliefs in terms of the success of their practical 

application." How does Hume's philosophy fall into being labelled pragmatic?

6. Describe the harm caused by speculative philosophy? What is the one positive thing about speculative philosophy?

Third Meditation....In Your Own Words

Read the 3rd Meditation- Here. 









Some Central Ideas within this Meditation:

3 possible types of ideas: innate, those originating in myself, and those that originate from something outside of me. We shall be most interested in the third group.

"I must still doubt both my senses and my intuitions concerning mathematical knowledge since God may have constituted me so as to be deceived even about those things I seem most certain."

"The idea of God could not have originated in me, since I am a finite substance."

You are doing the same with this Meditation as you did with the 2nd. 

Your Meditations

As you read the 2nd Meditation of Descartes, think about how you can perform the same mental exercise he is conducting. What would it mean to doubt everything? How do you come to the conclusions? You are to re-write the 2nd Meditation in your own words from the first person perspective- meaning, you are mandated to use "I" throughout your posting.

Text can be found here.
Assignment should be about a page to a page and a half.

Meditations

Link to Text: Here
Why do you think Descartes wrote the Preface? Not many philosophy books have a Preface in the form of a letter to the faculty of a university. What are his goals and intentions? What questions do you have after reading the Preface?

Descartes

After reading the 6 pages on Descartes from the handout, write a paragraph on how Descartes and Modern Philosophy are different than Ancient Greek and Medieval Philosophy. What seems to be Descartes' focus?

Aquinas- Faith and Reason Handout

Read on page 36 Reply beginning with the words "The gifts of grace are added......" and also read on page 38 Reply to 5. Reply to the following questions in the Comments section of this posting. 

- What do you think Aquinas means by "The gifts of grace are added to nature in such a way that they do not destroy it, but rather perfect it. So too the light of faith, which is imparted to us as a gift, does not do away with the light of natural reason given to us by God."

- What do you think Aquinas means by "So those who use the works of philosophers is sacred doctrine, by bringing them into the service of faith, do not mix water with wine, but rather change water into wine." What is symbolized by the wine and the water?

St. Thomas Aquinas

"Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) lived at a critical juncture of western culture when the arrival of the Aristotelian corpus in Latin translation reopened the question of the relation between faith and reason, calling into question the modus vivendi that had obtained for centuries. This crisis flared up just as universities were being founded. Thomas, after early studies at Montecassino, moved on to the University of Naples, where he met members of the new Dominican Order. It was at Naples too that Thomas had his first extended contact with the new learning. When he joined the Dominican Order he went north to study with Albertus Magnus, author of a paraphrase of the Aristoteliancorpus. Thomas completed his studies at the University of Paris, which had been formed out of the monastic schools on the Left Bank and the cathedral school at Notre Dame. In two stints as a regent master Thomas defended the mendicant orders and, of greater historical importance, countered both the Averroistic interpretations of Aristotle and the Franciscan tendency to reject Greek philosophy. The result was a new modus vivendi between faith and philosophy which survived until the rise of the new physics. The Catholic Church has over the centuries regularly and consistently reaffirmed the central importance of Thomas's work, both theological and philosophical, for understanding its teachings concerning the Christian revelation, and his close textual commentaries on Aristotle represent a cultural resource which is now receiving increased recognition. The following account concentrates on Thomas the philosopher" (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/). 


ASSIGNMENT
READ THE FOLLOWING: 

1. WHETHER, BESIDES PHILOSOPHY, ANY FURTHER DOCTRINE IS REQUIRED?
2. WHETHER SACRED DOCTRINE IS A SCIENCE?
3. WHETHER THE EXISTENCE OF GOD IS SELF-EVIDENT?
4. WHETHER IT CAN BE DEMONSTRATED THAT GOD EXISTS?

1. For each text (four total), Summarize 1 Objection and the related Reply.
2. For each text (four total), Summarize the "I answer that" section. 

Please identify each objection and reply by number- for example, "Objection #2/Reply".