PART 1: True or False? (1 point each) SELECT: 4 Q: "My grandmother's horse is in the barn" is true a posteriori. A. True B. False POINTS: 1 ANSWER: A TYPE: MC Q: By the end of the Meditations, Descartes has recovered all knowledge of the sensible world including smells, tastes, colors, etc. A. True B. False POINTS: 1 ANSWER: B TYPE: MC Q: The scientist whose discovery of the moons of Jupiter caused him to be persecuted by the Inquisition was Johannes Kepler. A. True B. False POINTS: 1 ANSWER: B TYPE: MC Q: Empiricism is the epistemological view that knowledge does not come from the senses. A. True B. False POINTS: 1 ANSWER: B TYPE: MC Q: Descartes wrote the Meditations primarily to combat the democratic tendencies of the new Athenian regime. A. True B. False POINTS: 1 ANSWER: B TYPE: MC Q: Descartes was a modern philosopher. A. True B. False POINTS: 1 ANSWER: A TYPE: MC PART II: Define. (1 point each) SELECT: 4 Q: Define: systematic (methodological) doubt POINTS: 1 TYPE: ES Q: Define: a priori POINTS: 1 TYPE: ES Q: Define: indubitable POINTS: 1 TYPE: ES Q: Define: rationalist epistemology POINTS: 1 TYPE: ES Q: Define: cogito ergo sum POINTS: 1 TYPE: ES Q: Define: evil genie conjecture POINTS: 1 TYPE: ES PART III: Essays. (2 points each) SELECT: 3 Q: The question of whether or not Jupiter has moons is an astronomical matter; it's not a question of theology or Scripture. So why did the Church find this discovery alarming? POINTS: 2 TYPE: ES ANSWER: Today the Church would not presume to make pronouncements on a scientific matter such as whether Jupiter has moons. The Roman Church decided to stay out of scientific matters only AFTER Descartes' work.Galileo's observation that Jupiter has moons proved that not everything in the universe revolves around the earth. The Church liked the idea that the earth was the center of the universe because it gave human life special significance. Of course humans were right at the center of things -- that's an external sign of how IMPORTANT we were to God. Our suffering is important. Our lives have meaning. Q: What happens in the first Meditation? POINTS: 2 TYPE: ES ANSWER: In the first Meditation, Descartes explains the method of systematic doubt, and then uses it to doubt both a posteriori and a priori claims.
The method of systematic doubt demands that you doubt anything you can possibly doubt. Only indubitable claims, then, can be accepted.
Descartes realizes that when he applies this method, he can no longer accept the deliverances of his senses. Furthermore, he does not know whether he is awake or asleep. Furthermore, he does not know for certain that there is NOT some evil god who is making him believe that 2+3=5 when it's really not so.
Descartes is very depressed at the end of Meditation I. It appears that he cannot know ANYTHING. Q: Why did Descartes write the Meditations? POINTS: 2 TYPE: ES ANSWER: Descartes' basic goal in writing the Meditations was to convince the Roman church to leave science alone. The Church, via the Inquisition, was persecuting scientists like Galileo. Descartes achieved his goal. He convinced the Church that scientists, in using mathematics, all depended on God (whether they knew it or not) to guarantee the certainty of math. Science ruled in the realm of body. But people still needed the guidance of the Church for the salvation of their souls, because people were still likely to be deceived by their senses unaided by math. Q: What is Descartes' argument of the wax? POINTS: 2 TYPE: ES ANSWER: Descartes presents the argument of the wax in Meditation II.
The argument is as follows:
P1: Before the wax is melted, it exhibits one set of sensory qualities. (Descartes enumerates them, making explicit reference to each of the five senses.)
P2: After the wax is melted, the sensory qualities are completely different. Descartes again enumerates them, making reference to each sense.
P3: In spite of these sensory inconsistencies, Descartes is certain it's the SAME wax in both cases.
Conclusion: Descartes' knowledge that the wax is the same does not come from the senses. Rather, the whole argument demonstrates that there are innate ideas of substance, sameness and difference. Q: What is Cartesian dualism? POINTS: 2 TYPE: ES ANSWER: "Cartesian dualism" is the fancy philosophical name for the view that a person consists of a material part (the body) and a non-material part (the soul). Cartesian dualism gives rise to the notorious mind-body problem: material and non-material being were thought to have completely opposite characteristics, so how can they possibly ever influence each other? Philosophers of the 20th century almost unanimously reject the Cartesian dualist view of personhood.