One of the key principles that Descartes emphasizes in Part Four is the idea that mathematical truths are certain and indubitable. Unlike other forms of knowledge, which can be doubted or challenged, mathematical truths are absolute and cannot be disputed. Descartes believes that this certainty is essential to his method, because it allows him to use mathematics as a foundation for his reasoning and to build upon this foundation in order to arrive at other truths.
In addition to the certainty of mathematics, Descartes also emphasizes the importance of clarity and distinctness in his method. He believes that it is essential to have clear and distinct ideas in order to arrive at truth, and he uses the example of geometry to illustrate this point. In geometry, one must have a clear and distinct understanding of the various shapes and their properties in order to arrive at conclusions about them. Descartes believes that this same principle applies to all forms of knowledge and that it is essential to have clear and distinct ideas in order to arrive at truth.
Another important aspect of Descartes' method that he discusses in Part Four is the role of doubt in arriving at truth. Descartes believes that it is essential to doubt everything that is uncertain or open to doubt in order to arrive at certain knowledge. This includes doubting even the most basic and seemingly self-evident truths, such as the existence of the external world or the reliability of one's own senses. By doubting everything and starting from scratch, Descartes believes that it is possible to arrive at certain knowledge that is beyond doubt.
In conclusion, Descartes' Discourse on Method is a powerful philosophical treatise that outlines his method for arriving at truth. In Part Four, Descartes emphasizes the importance of mathematics, clarity and distinctness, and doubt in his method and shows how these principles can be used to arrive at certain knowledge. His ideas have had a significant impact on the development of modern philosophy and continue to be influential today.
Rene Descartes: Discourse on Method (Part 4)
For his method to function seamlessly, Descartes needs to be consistent in his use of the method, that is, he must continue to doubt and challenge thoughts that originate in his own mind. His most notable findings included Cartesian Coordinates, Cartesian Geometry, and "Discourse on Method". There was a firm confirmation of the existence of man as he claimed this basic knowledge, referring it as a distinctively clear perception that is very certain and free from doubt. His second maxim is to remain firm and decisive in his actions. Since Descartes is imperfect, it is not possible for him to conceive of something perfect like God on his own only vice-verse, to perfect can conceive the imperfect. He does this by coming up with several premises that eventually add up to a solid argument.
Cultural Reader: Descartes / part 4 of Discourse on the Method
The Part 4 of the Discouse on Method by Descartes is a continuation of his preliminary discussion that exposed the philosophical explanations about concepts of logic, algebra, traditional philosophy, and theology. Sensation and imagination can deceive, as in dreams, when a person senses and imagines events that have not happened and objects that do not exist. He explains that the process of doubting proves that he exists. Accordingly, whereas we not infrequently have ideas or notions in which some falsity is contained, this can only be the case with such as are to some extent confused and obscure, and in this proceed from nothing participate of negation , that is, exist in us thus confused because we are not wholly perfect. In regards to Mathematics, Descartes discovered numerous principles and theorems that paved the way for future discoveries in mathematics. I was disposed straightway to search for other truths and when I had represented to myself the object of the geometers, which I conceived to be a continuous body or a space indefinitely extended in length, breadth, and height or depth, divisible into divers parts which admit of different figures and sizes, and of being moved or transposed in all manner of ways for all this the geometers suppose to be in the object they contemplate , I went over some of their simplest demonstrations. For, in fine, whether awake or asleep, we ought never to allow ourselves to be persuaded of the truth of anything unless on the evidence of our reason.
For, in the first place even the principle which I have already taken as a rule, viz. Descartes commences his argument by first establishing his idea of being a thinking being. That more perfect example being God. Having made up his mind on these maxims, Descartes heads out into the world and spends the next nine years traveling, conversing with others, and further developing his mathematical studies. However, a supreme God could easily be deceiving him even when he thinks he is correct as a result of this clear and distinct perception.
All of these things lead him back to where he started at the beginning of his writing. Descartes first has to audit his… Dbq Essay On The Enlightenment Rene Descartes, a French philosopher attempted to craft groundwork to establish further scientific developments. At the beginning of his investigation, Descartes undertakes to consider as false everything that he can possibly doubt. Even though it seemed in the beginning that he is focused on a picture of his own existence he provided his readers with a smooth transition to an existence of God, which made me believe that this was his focus. At the beginning of the article he tried desperately to find a solution for this thoughts and even his own existence, he even tried to pretend that his own thoughts were illusions of his dreams and his own existence was even questioned.
His third maxim is to try to master himself and not external factors, to work to change his desires rather than the world. God's existence can only be perceived by reason, and not by these other two faculties. But the reason which leads many to persuade them selves that there is a difficulty in knowing this truth, and even also in knowing what their mind really is, is that they never raise their thoughts above sensible objects, and are so accustomed to consider nothing except by way of imagination, which is a mode of thinking limited to material objects, that all that is not imaginable seems to them not intelligible. For how do we know that the thoughts which occur in dreaming are false rather than those other which we experience when awake, since the former are often not less vivid and distinct than the latter? Descartes argues that not even the greatest human mind "can give any reason sufficient to remove this doubt, unless they presuppose the existence of God. These other thoughts are of imperfect objects, so they could easily be invented by an imperfect mind. For this reason I put in the beginning of the paragraph that this topic is a little bit controversial. Where Descartes does not explicitly state that everyone has the idea of a perfect being in their mind, Anselm does state this in his argument.
Here he starts to doubt things such as the sky, air, Earth, colors, figures, and sounds. The Humanities: Culture, Continuity and Change. The Humanities: Culture, Continuity and Change. Second, he reminds us that he only wants to discuss his method with us; he is not telling us to imitate him. But first, he must establish whether this God exists. He also claimed and proved the existence of God in a circle of discussion via logical questions, where some were derived from the traditional scholastic perceptions incorporated with mathematical explanations such as geometry. He remains detached from the business of the world, acting as a spectator, carefully uprooting all the errors or unjustified opinions in his mind and taking careful note of any experiences that he might be able to build upon.
Descartes notes that his idea of God, which involves the concept of numerous perfections, could not be a creation of his own imagination. But immediately upon this I observed that, whilst I thus wished to think that all was false, it was absolutely necessary that I, who thus thought, should be somewhat; and as I observed that this truth, I think, therefore I am COGITO ERGO SUM , was so certain and of such evidence that no ground of doubt, however extravagant, could be alleged by the sceptics capable of shaking it, I concluded that I might, without scruple, accept it as the first principle of the philosophy of which I was in search. He concludes that a perfect being, such as God, must be responsible for the existence of all imperfect things because one cannot exist without the other. And, in the first place, I observed, that the great certitude which by common consent is accorded to these demonstrations, is founded solely upon this, that they are clearly conceived in accordance with the rules I have already laid down In the next place, I perceived that there was nothing at all in these demonstrations which could assure me of the existence of their object: thus, for example, supposing a triangle to be given, I distinctly perceived that its three angles were necessarily equal to two right angles, but I did not on that account perceive anything which could assure me that any triangle existed: while, on the contrary, recurring to the examination of the idea of a Perfect Being, I found that the existence of the Being was comprised in the idea in the same way that the equality of its three angles to two right angles is comprised in the idea of a triangle, or as in the idea of a sphere, the equidistance of all points on its surface from the center, or even still more clearly; and that consequently it is at least as certain that God, who is this Perfect Being, is, or exists, as any demonstration of geometry can be. Not only will this save him from never acting since certainty is hard to find but it will also save him from any future regrets he would experience if he were less decisive.
For if it happened that an individual, even when asleep, had some very distinct idea, as, for example, if a geometer should discover some new demonstration, the circumstance of his being asleep would not militate against its truth; and as for the most ordinary error of our dreams, which consists in their representing to us various objects in the same way as our external senses, this is not prejudicial, since it leads us very properly to suspect the truth of the ideas of sense; for we are not infrequently deceived in the same manner when awake; as when persons in the jaundice see all objects yellow, or when the stars or bodies at a great distance appear to us much smaller than they are. Descartes found his work made considerably easier if, on the one hand, he considered every quantity as a line, and, on the other hand, developed a system of symbols that could express these quantities as concisely as possible. Second, to divide any given problem into the greatest possible number of parts to make for a simpler analysis. And yet, that it may be determined whether the foundations that I have laid are sufficiently secure, I find myself in a measure constrained to advert to them. 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.
