HHE 2501

INTRODUCTION
TO PHILOSOPHY
MODERN
PHILOSOPHY
MODERN PHILOSOPHERS Introduction
Reference Material
• Copleston, F. (1950) A History of Philosophy Vol. 4, 5 & 6
• Fernandez , J.L & Soto, M. J. History of Modern
Philosophy

INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
CAT 1
Question 1
What do Philosophy and Covid-19 have in common?
You can gerrit, I can gerrit, anybody can gerrit!
 1453
FALL OF
CONSTANTINOPLE
(ISTANBUL)
 1492
DISCOVERY OF
AMERICA
(BY S. EUROPEANS)
MEDIEVAL…

Faith and Reason

MODERN…

Reason and Science

Copernican Revolution
 BREAK WITH
TRADITION
Focus on the Subject.
Emphasis on Reason.
Autonomy and Freedom.
2 MAIN CURRENTS
RATIONALISM
EMPIRICISM
Rationalism:
What is Rational is Real.
Empiricism:
What is Measurable (sensible) is Real.
Rationalism:
•True knowledge comes through reason alone.
•Deductive method.
•Innate – A priori ideas.
•Rene Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Baruch
Spinoza.
Empiricism.
•True knowledge comes through the senses.
•Reason is full of distortions and prejudice-
innate ideas don’t exist.
•Inductive A posteriori method.
•Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes.
Recall: Realist Philosophy.
•A realist metaphysics (Aristotle/T. Aquinas);

• Starts by looking at real beings

• Values both sense and intellectual knowledge

(Both the inductive and deductive methods).

(Both sense and intellectual evidence).

 Rene Descartes

Blaise Pascal

Baruch Spinoza
Modern
Philosophers
Francis Bacon

David Hume

Etc.
 Life in the time of Rene Descartes
VIDEO The 17th Century Crisis: Crash Course European
History #11 - YouTube
 RENE
DESCARTES

The Father of Rationalism

Descartes: biography
• René Descartes was born on March 31, 1596.

• Place: La Haye, France near Tours.

• The Descartes clan was a bourgeois family composed of

mostly doctors and some lawyers. Joachim Descartes fell
into this latter category and spent most of his career as a
member of the provincial parliament.

• Descartes was a mathematician and philosopher

• He was a devout Catholic

23
Descartes: Philosophy

• René Descartes is often credited with being the “Father of

Modern Philosophy.” This title is justified due to his
break with the traditional Scholastic-Aristotelian
philosophy prevalent at his time.

• Descartes thought that the method of the Scholastics was

prone to doubt given their reliance on sensation as the
beginning of the human knowing process.
Reading Assignment:
Rene Descartes
1619 dream…
•Interpreted as a calling from
God to reform the field of
knowledge.

•In the dream, he saw the

Mathematical Method as a
path to the foundation of
knowledge.
Rule 1
“Do not accept anything as true unless I
clearly know it as such... And not include in
my judgments anything that is not presented
clearly and distinctly to my intelligence, so
that I may exclude any possibility of doubt.”

Only accept clear and distinct ideas to

eliminate Doubt.
Rule 2
“Divide each problem under examination
into as many parts as possible and as might
be necessary in order to resolve it
adequately.”

Analysis.
Rule 3
“I must direct my thoughts with order,
beginning with the simplest objects and the
easiest to learn, and to ascend slowly to the
knowledge of the more complex things.”

Synthesis.
Rule 4
“To make enumerations so complete and
reviews so general so as to be sure that
nothing was omitted.”

Enumerations and Review.

Methodical/Radical
Doubt…
- All opinions
- Sense knowledge
- All reasonings
- All reality
- But if I doubt, I must somewhat
exist. Therefore;
- The first truth I can affirm with
certainty is I think therefore I am.
Methodical Doubt…
The only thing I am certain of is that, since I
am doubting, I must be thinking.
“I think, therefore I am” (cogito ergo sum).

*Thought is the foundation for reality.

 FRANCIS
BACON

The Father of Empiricism

 The Enlightenment
VIDEO
Age of Enlightenment: The Age of
Reason Explained - YouTube
The Enlightenment.
•True knowledge is that which can be rationally
explained, and demonstrated empirically, thus a
rejection of knowledge stemming from authority
only.
•Disregard for tradition as intellectual immaturity.
•Scientific Experimental method, combining
induction and deduction.
•Proponents: Immanuel Kant, Denis Diderot, etc.
Consequences...
•Anthropocentricism / subjectivism.
•Primacy of Reason / Epistemic control.
•Mechanistic / Determinist world view.
•Autonomy / Rejection of authority.
•Scientific progress => greater sense of freedom.
 IMMANUEL
KANT

What is the Enlightenment?

Reading Assignment:
Immanuel Kant
 Reading Assignment:
Medieval Vs. Modern Philosophy
End of Topic