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Rationalism
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

Rationalist, French Mathematician

Father of Modern Western Philosophy

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Introduction

In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of
knowledge" or any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification". More formally,
rationalism is defined as a methodology or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but
intellectual and deductive".

Influenced by mathematics especially arithmetic and geometry, and the exactness of knowledge they provide,
Rationalist philosophers like Descartes, Spinoza and Leibnitz sought to establish clear rational principle of truths
from which accurate information about the world could be deduced.

As Statement-1 —

7+5=12

Statement-2 —

6+6=12

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Statement-3---

So 6+6=7+5

In above two logics (7+5=12 and 6+6=12) are based on intuition (self proved) but third (6+6=7+5) has been
deduced through above two reasons. Hence the authenticity of third statement is based on first and second
statement. This is called self-proved truth. Descartes says that Philosophy should also have the same grounds of
truth so that can be as objective as mathematics.

Cartesian Method

Cartesian doubt Method is also known as Cartesian skepticism, methodic doubt, methodological skepticism,
universal doubt, systematic doubt or hyperbolic doubt. Cartesian Doubt is a form of methodological skepticism
associated with the writings and methodology of Rend Descartes.

Rene Descartes, the originator of Cartesian doubt, put all beliefs, ideas, thoughts, and matter in doubt. He
showed that his grounds, or reasoning, for any knowledge could just as well be false. Sensory experience, the
primary mode of knowledge, is often erroneous and therefore must be doubted. For instance, what one is
seeing may very well be a hallucination. In short, if there is any way a belief can be disproved, then its grounds
are insufficient. From this, Descartes proposed two arguments, the dream and the demon.

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It is the basis for Descartes' statement, "Cogito ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am"). Of course, Descartes never
actually wrote "cogito ergo sum,' instead, he wrote in his native French, "le pense, donc je suis."

Techniques:

Descartes' method of hyperbolic doubt included:

1.Accepting only information you know to be true

2.Breaking down these truths into smaller units
3.Solwing the simple problems first
4.Making complete lists of further problems

Knowledge in the Cartesian sense means to know something beyond not merely all reasonable, but all possible,
doubt.

Criticism of the method:

1. Descartes thinks that what he is saying directly are only ideas not the object itself. It is called representative
theory of knowledge since it is only a partial view.

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2. Cartesian doubt is not real doubt. It is only methodological because it is not reflected in his behavior.

3. He says that only mathematical knowledge as is certain. It seems to be partial and so attacked by many
empiricist Philosophers.

Characteristics:

Cartesian doubt is methodological. Its purpose is to use doubt as a route to certain knowledge by finding those
things, which could not be doubted.

In order to arrive at such a foundational belief, Descartes proposes a method of doubt. He proposes to doubt
everything that can be doubted in order to arrive at absolute certainty. In one sense, this approach is integral to
modernity's critical spirit. It challenges old beliefs, systems and methods of knowledge. Descartes initiates what
is known as methodical or methodological skepticism, which uses doubt methodically in order to arrive at true
knowledge, which is beyond all doubt.

Descartes suggests sin Meditations, each one dealing with a specific aspect of his methodology that ultimately
resolve certain important problems a philosopher who considers 6 gaining absolutely certain genuine knowledge
as his objective would encounter. The first Meditation outlines two stages in the method; the skepticism in

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regard to the senses and the refutation of radical skepticism. Here he proposes to doubt everything that can be
doubted in order to reach the indubitable starting point of all knowledge. This starting point has been conceived
as the foundation of knowledge. He that decides to doubt everything that can possibly be doubted and had
decided to get rid of all the opinions he had adopted so far about the world. On the constructive side, this
endeavor aims at commencing anew the work of building from the foundation. Descartes thus wonders,
whether he could doubt the fact that he is in the place where he finds himself, seated by the fire, clothed in a
winter dressing gown, that he holds in his hands a piece of paper, with other intimations of the same nature. He
speculates the possibility that he might be in a state of insanity with disordered brain and also the possibility
that he might be dreaming, as one may get deceived in sleep by illusions. It is also possible that God may cause
him to make mistakes or an evil demon may be misleading him. He doubts the existence of objects, which he
perceives, and also the fact that he possesses any senses. He says that the body, figure, extension, motion, and
place can all be merely fictions of the mind. Hence, the beliefs In the testimony of the senses and therefore, of
the existence of material things or the physical world are suspended. This forces us to doubt the knowledge
obtained by the natural sciences. Further the beliefs in mathematics, which is widely held as a domain of
certainties, can also be doubted, as an evil demon may cause me to believe in them and consider them as
certain.

After outlining the skeptical part of his method, Descartes now ventures to counter skepticism. He thus says
that, though he can doubt many things and the existence of a world, which he experiences, the fact that he
doubts is beyond all doubts. Hence he cannot doubt his existence, because in order to doubt, he should exist.
Descartes thus says that, every time I doubt, I must exist to doubt and even if a being with the highest power

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and the deepest cunning, may be constantly employing all his ingenuity in deceiving him, I must exist, since I am
deceived. The fact that I am in doubt cannot be doubted. I, therefore, exist, because I think: cogito ergo sum, I
think, therefore I am.

The —I exist!' therefore, is the absolutely certain, self-evident, and indubitable first principle. It is the only
necessary truth. Descartes argues that, I think, I am, I exist, are necessarily true each time it is expressed by me,
or conceived in my mind, as —1 am and —I exist are certain as often as I think. From this it follows that, if I
cease to think, then I should at the same time cease to be.

Therefore, Descartes' philosophy begins with an objective; to identify the foundations of genuine scientific
knowledge. He thus advances a method of doubt,

Where he doubts everything that can be doubted, in order to arrive at the indubitable starting point of
knowledge. The cogito is the starting point. But the cogito only proves the existence of the mind. Or more
accurately, it proves my existence as a thinking thing. The existence of the mind is thus proved in the beginning.
This in no way proves the existence of the world of objects. One can still doubt its existence.
Criticism

Kant and Hume reject the contention of Descartes. They hold that the permanent self cannot be known
empirically. Kant contents that the transcendental subject can never be an object of knowledge.

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God
"It is absolutely true that we must believe in God, because it is also taught by the Holy Scriptures. On the other
hand, we must believe in the Sacred Scriptures because they come from God."

"And thus I very clearly see that the certitude and truth of all science depends on the knowledge alone of the
true God, insomuch that, before I knew him, I could have no perfect knowledge of any other thing. And now that
I know him, I possess the means of acquiring a perfect knowledge respecting Innumerable matters, as well
relative to God himself and other intellectual objects as to corporeal nature." "I have innate idea of god in my
mind who is omnipresent, omniscient and eternal, source of all goodness and truth and creator or all things and
having all the qualities we exalt to perfection". Now, what can be the cause of this idea? Descartes assumes that
at least the cause must be equal to the effect. Hence this Idea (being the effect) must have an equally perfect
cause, and thus, it must be the infinitely perfect being of god. This is known as the causal theory for existence of
god.

Descartes argued that God's existence can be deduced from his nature, just as geometric ideas can be deduced
from the nature of shapes—he used the deduction of the sizes of angles in a triangle as an example. He
suggested that the concept of God is that of a supremely perfect being, holding all perfections. He seems to
have assumed that existence is a predicate of perfection. Thus, if the notion of God did not include existence, it
would not be supremely perfect, as it would be lacking perfection. Consequently, the notion of a supremely

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perfect God who does not exist, Descartes argues, is unintelligible. Therefore, according to his nature, God must
exist.

Criticism

Kant criticizes that in ontological proof, existence cannot be assumed as a predicate, like color, taste, etc.
furthermore if god has existence, it can be proved by experience alone. An empirical proposition can only be
probable. Thus, god cannot be proved by argument.

Substance and the world

Descartes defines a substance as a thing that does not depend on anything else for its existence. That is to say,
substance is a self-subsisting thing. Strictly speaking, then, only God Is really a substance, because everything
else depends on God for its existence. More loosely speaking, though, anything that depends only on God for its
existence counts as a substance.

Mind body dualism

Substance or Cartesian dualism Substance dualism is a type of dualism most famously defended by Rene
Descartes, which states that there are two kinds of foundation: mental and body. This philosophy states that the

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mental can exist outside of the body, and the body cannot think. But both depend on god for their existence and
not on anything else. The attribute of mind is consciousness while the attribute of body is extension. Substance
dualism is Important historically for having given rise too much thought regarding the famous mind—body
problem. Substance dualism is a philosophical position compatible with most theologies, which claim that
immortal souls occupy an independent realm of existence distinct from that of the physical world.

Descartes developed a theory of mind as an immaterial, non-extended substance that engages in various
activities such as rational thought, imagining, feeling, and willing. Matter, or extended substance, conforms to
the laws of physics in mechanistic fashion, with the important exception of the human body, which Descartes
believed is causally affected by the human mind and which causally produces certain mental events. For
example, willing the arm to be raised causes it to he raised, whereas being hit by a hammer on the finger causes
the mind to feel pain. How mind and body interact with each other in the case of humans? To explain this,
Descartes gives the theory of interactionism, explaining that the pineal gland in the brain is the seat of soul and
that the mind and the body interact through the pineal gland. He gives analogy of horse and horse rider, where
the horse follows command of the rider despite being distinct from it.

Criticism:

Example of horse and horse rider is inappropriate, both those are conscious; in case of mind and body, one
(mind) is conscious while the other (body) is material.

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Some passions of the body have a direct effect on the mind for example, love, hatred, fear etc. may originate
from the body, and Descartes is forced to consider them as modes of the mind.

Significance of Descartes

Descartes has often been dubbed the father of modern Western philosophy, the thinker whose approach has
profoundly changed the course of Western philosophy and set the basis for modernity. The first two of his
Meditations on First Philosophy, those that formulate the famous methodic doubt, represent the portion of
Descartes's writings that most influenced modern thinking.

He promoted freedom of thought in Philosophy, at a time when Western world was under the dogmatic
influence of the church. He exalted logic and reason to be methods of knowledge and opened the gates for
promotion of scientific temperament.

Descartes has been the initiator of modern rationalism he laid down that reason is the soul arbiter of
philosophical dispute. In this Spinoza, Leibniz, and Kant but also Empiricists like Locke, Berkeley, Hume followed
him.

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He propounded the doctrine of innate ideas according to which the mind is not merely a receptor of sensory
experience but an active compound. It supplies the active principles of knowledge through which understanding
is possible. Kant also holds this view and developed it further.

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