Essay about Descartes And Locke - 1518 Words

Descartes and Locke One of the most important branches in philosophy, is Epistemology, which means, theory of knowledge. So far, philosophers have made many attempts to discover the source of knowledge, the standards or criteria by which we can judge the reliability of knowledge. We tend to be satisfied with think what we know about almost everything, even though sometimes we are shocked to discover that something that we thought it was sure and certain, is instead proved dubious and not sure. For example, suppose that one person that you know and trust tells you that the moon landing in 1969 is only a lie, and the pictures and film were made in a laboratory. We might distrust our friend maybe or think that in fact there were no prove†¦show more content†¦He finds it plausible that we are all living in a dream and we have never experienced reality. He can no longer give any credence to his senses and finds himself in a place of complete uncertainty. Descartes comes to the conclusion that nothin g can be perceived more easily and more evidently than his own mind. He has discovered that even bodies are not accurately perceived by the senses or the faculty of imagination, and are only accurately being perceived by the intellect. He also realizes that they are not distinguished through being touched, smelled, or tasted, but by being understood alone. (An apple is an apple because our mind tells us that it is an apple.) It is the faculty of reason that gives the knowledge and lets the mind know the truths and essences of objects. Descartes assumes that all of us can be decided by our senses, someone can see something far away, and then discover that is not what we thought it was. Or even a oar when is immerse half in water attempt to be bent, but instead is straight. Descartes think that we cannot always be sure of what we sense, and gives the example of himself seated by the fire. Locke instead is an empiricist, and therefore he directly critiques Descartes epistemic system and tries to establish his own foundation of knowledge. Locke believes that our knowledge of the world comes from what our senses tell us. Locke’s theory state that we are all born with a blank slate, tabula rasa, before weShow MoreRelatedDescartes vs. Locke1175 Words   |  5 PagesPhilosophy Essay (Descartes vs. Locke) Socrates once said, â€Å"As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.† Several philosophers contradicted Socrates’ outlook and believed that true knowledge was in fact attainable. This epistemological view however had several stances to it, as philosophers held different beliefs in regards to the derivation of true knowledge. Rationalists believed that the mind was the source of true knowledge, while in Empiricism, true knowledge derived from the senses. ReneRead MoreDescartes vs Locke Essay1191 Words   |  5 PagesPhilosophy Essay (Descartes vs. Locke) Socrates once said, â€Å"As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.† Several philosophers contradicted Socrates’ outlook and believed that true knowledge was in fact attainable. This epistemological view however had several stances to it, as philosophers held different beliefs in regards to the derivation of true knowledge. Rationalists believed that the mind was the source of true knowledge, while in Empiricism, true knowledge derived from the senses. ReneRead MoreEssay on Descartes vs Locke1257 Words   |  6 Pagesby experience, observation, and sensory perception. Renà © Descartes and John Locke, both seventeenth century philosophers, are often seen as two of the first early modern philosophers. Both Descartes and Locke attempt to find answers to the same questions in metaphysics and epistemology; among these: What is knowledge? Is there certainty in knowledge? What roles do the mind and body play in the acquisition of knowledge? Descartes and Locke do not provide the same answers to these questions. In thisRead MoreDescartes And Locke : The Existence Of Knowledge867 Words   |  4 PagesDescartes and Locke; The Existence of Knowledge Rene Descartes, the Father of Modern Philosophy, based his beliefs off of one piece of knowledge that he found to be absolutely certain; â€Å"I now know that even bodies are perceived not by the senses or by imagination but by the intellect alone, not through their being touched or seen but through their being understood; and this helps me to understand that I can perceive my own mind more easily and clearly than I can anything else† (Descartes, 1639Read MoreJohn Locke And Rene Descartes1442 Words   |  6 PagesPhilosophers are individuals who address critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs with underlying theories of their own. John Locke and Rene Descartes were both classified as modern philosophers in the seventeenth century who sums up the subject about personal identity and its determents in reference to our own existence, such as who are we? The personal identity theory states that the philosophical confrontation with the ultimate questions of our own existence, such as who are weRead MoreRene Descartes And John Locke997 Words   |  4 PagesRene Descartes and John Locke each produced pieces of philosophical responses to the questions posed in epistemology which resulted with very different answers. Descartes relied on God and the mind as the only reliable and trustworthy sources to prove the existence of things other than ourselves. Locke, in contrast, made arguments for the existence of things in the external world via our innate ability to recognize and process sensations that are derived from subjects that exist in the material worldRead MoreRene Descartes and John Locke698 Words   |  3 PagesRene Descartes was a highly influential French philosopher, mathematician, scientist and writer. Many elements of his philosophy have precedent in late Aristolelianism and earlier philosophers like St. Augustine. Descartes was a major figure in 17th century continental rationalism, later advocated by Baruch Spinoza and opposed by th e empiricist school of thought consisting of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. His most famous statement is: Cogito ergo sum, translation in English I think therefore I am.Read MoreJohn Locke And Rene Descartes Essay1444 Words   |  6 Pagesfield of philosophy, many philosophers have had theories on personal identity and a person’s â€Å"self.† These people have gone down in history books for their theories on a person’s identity: John Locke and Rene’ Descartes. These are two of the most famous philosophers of their time and all time. â€Å"John Locke was one of the philosophers who were against the Cartesian theory that soul accounts for personal identity (Nimbalkar, 2011).† His theory was that your â€Å"self† was your consciousness. He believedRead MoreThe Philosophy Of Descartes On The Affirmative, And John Locke2123 Words   |  9 PagesAre ideas innate or not? First, I will present the debate on innate ideas as argued by Descartes on the affirmative, and John Locke on the negative. Descartes view that we do indeed have innate ideas which comes from his meditations concerning the idea of god. While Locke would argue that we do not have innate ideas and that is rooted in his belief that all knowledge is a result of our experiences. Descartes was a French philosopher who was a rationalist. Rationalists believe that all ideas areRead MoreCognative Development: Therories of Locke and Descartes2328 Words   |  10 Pagesbetween John Locke, and Rene Descartes. John Locke, a seventeenth-century English philosopher, argued against the belief that human beings are born with certain ideas already in their minds. He claimed that, on the contrary, the mind is a tabula rasa (in Latin, a blank slate) until experience begins to write on it. He was quoted in saying: the human mind begins as a white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas. (The Blank Slate, n.d.) However, according to Renà © Descartes, a seventeenth-century