Throughout the whole of the second module of HCJ the topic is Epistemology. Strange word, and an equally strange meaning behind it. What it means is the philosophy of knowledge – how we acquire it, what it is, and what it is to know knowledge. Strange indeed.
The first set of philosophers that we have concentrated on with this topic are Descartes, Spinoza and Liebniz. These three are all rationalists, meaning that they discover knowledge through reason – a priori. There is no need for the physical observation of the world because all we can know is known through our use of reason and consciousness.
DESCARTES
The main points with Descartes are:
- Cartesian doubt
- The senses
- I think therefore I am
- Substance
- and God
Each of these aspects are all linked together and are not independent of one another.
Cartesian Doubt and the Senses
Cartesian refers to the school of thought of Descartes. Cartesian doubt is the act of doubting all that is physically doubtable and to return to the most basic facts that we can truly believe in.
Why may we do this? Well, it is because Descartes is a rationalist, and he does not believe that observation is the correct way to obtain knowledge. He says that our primary mode of knowledge is sensory, and that it is often wrong. For example, with hallucinations, mistakings, and so on. If this mode of knowledge is so unreliable, how can we possibly trust it?
I Think Therefore I Am
This leads Descartes to an analogy: What is there were a ‘demon’ manipulating our actions, trying to mislead us? If there was such a thing, then all that we see would be illusion and not natural contrary to what we believe.
However, there is one thing that Descartes cannot doubt, even with the misleading demon. That one thing is the fact that we are thinking, and because we are thinking, we must exist. Even if our thoughts are manipulated or misconstrued, we are still actively thinking those thoughts. This is known as Descartes’s Cogito, meaning consciousness. This is Descartes’s foundation of knowledge. We must conclude that the mind is one thing and the body is another. This is known as Cartesian Dualism.
Substance and God
Descartes believed that we were made up of three substances – mind, body, and God. Mind and body are both obviously important factors to our existence as they are the only two realities we know of and can distinguish between. God, for Descartes, is necessary in an interesting way. In order to progress from the Cogito we must have something, a catalyst almost, to enable us to allow ourselves to expand our knowledge. God wouldn’t deceive us because He made us, and He is a benevolent being.
In order for this to be so, Descartes must prove that God is real, and does so by his version of the Ontological Argument.
Descartes jumps from statement to statement:
- God possesses all perfections
- Existence is a perfection
- Therefore God exists
Descartes refers to an analogy of a triangle in order for us to understand why these statements are able to flow from one another so sweepingly:
A triangle has certain characteristics (predicates) that are necessary for it to be so – all of its internal angles must add up to 180°, there must be three sides. If these predicates are removed, then the triangle is no longer a triangle. This relates to Descartes’s argument because as the triangle must logically have three sides and so on, God must possess all perfections or else God would not be God.
SPINOZA
The main points with Spinoza are:
- Monism and opposition with Descartes
- God is the true substance
- No free will
Monism
Spinoza is a ‘logical monist’. What this means is that the world as a whole is a single substance, none of which can logically stand alone. There are not two different parts of the world such as Descartes said – there is simply the physical.
God is the true substance
The reason for our world being simply physical is that all of our thinking is embodied as a physical manifestation of God. If we had a separate substance from the world, that would mean that God is separate from it, and this cannot be. Our souls are aspects of a divine Being.
No free will
There is no such thing as personal immortality. We have no free will – all that is good is good, but what is evil does not exist to God. This is because we are all manifestations of God, so evil is eliminated.
All wrongdoing is due to intellectual error – the man who adequately understands his own circumstances will act wisely.
Spinoza expresses a form of Pantheism (the world being one and adds up to God). God did not create nature because He is nature.
Berkeley expresses similarity with Spinoza by saying that there is only one substance, but that is mental. All that exists is through mental stimulation, including ‘physical’ actions. For example, if we pick up a pen, it is not our physicality that matters, but the mental stimulation and interpretation of the action.
LEIBNIZ
Last, but not least (perhaps it should be last but not sane) is Leibniz, a somewhat confusing character, even when compared with Descartes and Spinoza.
The main points with Leibniz are:
- Substance – Monad
- Best World
- Ontological & Cosmological argument
Monad
There are an infinite number of ‘monads’ in the universe. A monad is the simplest form that is the foundation of our complex being. This is our form of substance. It is a ‘soul’.
Necessary and eternal truths may be known by reason – a rational soul may know more than an ordinary one.
Best World
Leibniz also said that this world is the best of all possible worlds because God is benevolent and chose this one out of an infinite number of possibilities. He also said that God has chosen the best plan for the universe.
Of course, this is disputed for obvious reasons.
Ontological and Cosmological Argument
Ontological = Anselm said, simply put, if we can conceive of a perfect Being, it must exist because we have thought of it. He further went on to say that it is impossible to conceive of a perfect being not existing.
Cosmological = Aquinas (derived from Aristotle) presents the concept of the unmovable mover/uncaused causer – everything is in a state of motion, everything has causality. There are contingent and necessary beings, contingent being us and necessary being God.
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