1. The Wikipedia article unfortunately fails to correctly interpret the quotation in which Descartes says "I firmly believed that in this way I should much better succeed in the conduct of my life, that if I build only upon the old foundations, and leaned upon principles which, in my youth, I had taken on trust." How does Wikipedia interpret this quote? What is the correct interpretation of this quote, based on a close reading of what it actually says? (This is a hit-or-miss kind of question, so I won't mind if you skip it.)
- Since this is a hit or miss question, i dont mind taking a crack at it: Wiki seems like they reinterpreted it verbatim, it seems with your use of "fails to correctly interpret.." that this is not a correct interpretation of this quote. The correct interpretation may be, It would better serve him to doubt everything and all the training he had had was built on "swampy" foundation. So he took elements of his own education and tested them till they were undoubtable. i dunno if this is correct, but i took a crack at it...
2. Explain the four precepts by which Descartes seeks to discover true knowledge. (Just FYI, Descartes does not mean to suggest anything to do with the senses by the term "clear and distinct.")
- The four precepts are:
a. Accept only that which you are sure of
b. Divide into as small parts as necessary
c. Solve the simplest problems first
d. Make as complete lists as posible
I guess all of these four precepts are needed to discover true knowlege. Without one, your knowledge would be incomplete. This first one, Accept only that which you are sure of, is pretty straightforward, dont take something that you havent researched yourself as fact. Second, Divide into as small parts as necessary, this enables a person to examine an issue from all angles and down to the minute detail. Third, Solve the simplest problem first, this is smart becuase you'll save tons of time, and it would serve as an appetizer for your brain to get started witht he meat of the problem. Fourth, Make as complete lists as possible, this helps you organize your thoughts so that you dont confuse yourself. My interpretation maybe false but i think that its pretty straightforward.
3. According to Shorto, what is the relationship between religion and the scientific method?
- Shorto believes that the scientific method was created in order to overthrow the religious method.
4. According to Shorto, what great controversy continues to the present day?
- The controversy that ignited by Descartes and continues today is, along the lines of: Islamic terrorists spurn the modern world and pine for a culture based on unquestioning faith; where scientists write bestsellers that passionately make the case for atheism; where others struggle to find a balance between faith and reason."
5. What was threatened by Descartes' method, and how was it threatened?
- The Church was threatened by Descartes' method (Cartesianism). I think that it was threatend because of democracy and science when the Church represented the opposite of that.
6. The Book Lady talks about a conflict between modernity and traditionalism. As best you can come up explain what you think she means by "modernity." If your idea of modernity is different from hers, explain your idea as well.
- I think that by modernity she means reason and by tradition she means religtion. I guess she referes to reason as modernity because of the way people thought during modern times as opposed to the conservative closed minded tradtionalists. I suppose i can agree with her reffering to modernity as reason because the modern era is more openminded and reasonable than the conservatives who believe in something with absolute faith, no matter what reason points at.
7. What does Shorto think is the proposal contained in "The Discourse on the Method for Rightly Conducting the Reason?"
- Shorto thinks that it is a "modest" proposal ground knowledge not on received wisdom from the Bible or kingly power but on human reason.
8. Although Shorto does not mention it in the article, the Discourse was written in French, a language spoken by pretty much everyone in France, and not in Latin, a language spoken by scholars, a very small proportion of the population who almost never discuss their work with people who were not scholars. What do you think the social effect might have been of writing this book in French rather than Latin?
- Well with any language, things are lost in translation, and i think that was probably the biggest thing back then. And as for social effect, i guess the scholars might have considered it a slap in the face, that this book was translated into French. I dunno, its the best i could come up with.
9. What is Shorto's own interpretation of Descartes' importance in forming the modern world? What, if anything, is Shorto's argument for his interpretation?
- Shorto's own interpretation of Descartes' importance in forming the world was that he was creating a world in which you could understand things without faith.
10. Based on all the reading you have done for this unit, what is your opinion of Shorto's view of Descartes, and of Shorto's argument, if any?
- Shorto's view of Descarte is an accurate one, i think. Some of his ideas may be compromised because he is only looking at it from one angle: to write his book. I think that in order to fully understand descarte one has to disect his beliefs and look at the without any sort of bias or end game.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Good work Yogi, full marks.
ReplyDeleteHere are some comments.
I asked you to give a correct interpretation of a quote from Descartes. That quote was "I firmly believed that in this way I should much better succeed in the conduct of my life, than if I build only upon the old foundations, and leaned upon principles which, in my youth, I had taken on trust." Let's take the quotation piece by piece.
"I firmly believed that ..." this says that Descartes believes what he is saying very strongly.
"... in this way ..." here he indicates that he is talking about a method or a way of doing things.
"...I should much better succeed ..." this says that this method, whatever it is, is in his opinion much better at achieving whatever it achieves than any other method.
"... in the conduct of my life,..." here he is talking about how he lives his life.
"... than if ..." when I copied over the quote, I incorrectly copied this as "that." Sorry about the confusion. This is unfortunate, because the word "than" indicates that Descartes is talking about a contrast. He is saying that his method, whatever it is, is better than whatever he's going to talk about next.
"...I built only upon the old foundations..." here he is saying that the alternative to his method is to stick to old ways of doing things.
"... and leaned upon principles which, in my youth, I had taken on trust." Here he refers to logical or moral rules that he formally trusted, when he was much younger.
Taking these things all together, the correct interpretation of this quote is something like:
"I believed very strongly that if I did things my way I would do much better than if I stuck to the old ways of doing things."
Another way of putting it is to say:
"The traditional foundations are not solid. Time-honored principles are not sound. The beliefs I relied upon in my youth do not serve me well. I am convinced that my new way of doing things is much better than any of the old ways of thinking."
Yogi, you did not answer question 4! Instead, you pasted in a quotation from a website. This is absolutely unacceptable. You should never, ever, paste in somebody else's words as your answer to anything. If you don't understand what Shorto is saying, say so! Don't try to cover by pasting in a quotation. I would very much like you to put the quotation from Shorto into your own words.
Other than that, it's all pretty good work. Well done.