The Philosophy and Epistemology of René Descartes

This is a short video about the philosophy and epistemology of René Descartes, discussing his "method of doubt" and his famous statement "Cogito ergo sum."

Category:

Education

Tags:

• René
• Descartes
• Philosophy
• Epistemology
• Method
• of
• Doubt
• hyperbolic
• doubt
• cogito
• ergo
• sum
• rationalist
• rationalism
• father
• modern
• philosophy
• Cartesian
• coordinates

[boardfu]

Great video! Easy to listen to: Clear and Concise. Myself personally I might have mentioned the empiricists while touching base with the idea of rationalism. I just wonder where Descartes came up with the idea of perfection as being the explanation for god? I personally might argue that perfection is merely in the mind of the beholder, as I somehow feel you might agree with. Sounds almost like he was trying to not get in trouble with the church :-p

[wmiller24]

@boardfu As a matter of fact, Descartes was trying to use reason and philosophy to provide a foundation for faith and for belief in Catholic doctrine. Unfortunately for him, even though he was trying to defend Catholicism, his theories were not universally welcomed by the Catholic Church.

[Brandonduboff]

I came across this problem that I could not solve. Descartes is famous for the phrase, cogito ergo sum. But Descartes was French, and wrote his books in french. Why would his most famous phrase be most known in Latin? I couldn't find an answer anywhere. thank you in advance for an answer, if you have one.

[wmiller24]

@Brandonduboff This is a good question. In point of fact, the phrase "I think, therefore I am" was first written in French ("Je pense, donc je suis") and is found in Descartes' treatise called "Discourse on Method" which was written in French and published in 1637. His "Meditations on First Philosophy" were published in Latin in 1641, and later in French (1647), but he does not used that exact phrase in that work

[wmiller24]

@Brandonduboff The phrase "Cogito ergo sum" finally appears in Descartes' "Principles of Philosophy," which were written in Latin and published in 1644. Since this phrase summarizes his point, and since philosophers like to shorten it to just "the Cogito" when referring to this argument, the Latin version has become the most widely known version of the phrase.

[ross54535]

i give the dick, therefore i am

[Gruenders]

Why couldn't the evil demon deceive Descartes' senses to the point where he believes that he is thinking, but in fact he is just being manipulated by the demon? Also, why couldn't Descartes' strong convictions about perfection be results of the evil demon's manipulation of his senses?

[hiphopfish88]

Im taking a Philosophy call right now, I really enjoy this particular topic of Epistemology.

[TheaDragonSpirit]

His island is his subjective thoughs and views. How does he work out their is objective truths or facts.

[Msncgal]

Very informative! Thank you for explaining this!!

[88roro11]

ive honestly thought this before.. but i was on alot of mushrooms or acid..i drew some wild stuff.. i wrote my thoughts down the next day, that what if this is all a dream.. or schizophrenic reality.... or what if this is afterlife?

[RobFS1]

Very good! Helped me a lot. :)

[NickoDrummer]

Great video! Easy to understand and short enough to remember! I hope Descartes will show up for tomorrows exam, so that I can use this as an inspiration for what I'm writing! Thanks!

[alifeofreason]

@ArkansasHarvest Baruch de Spinoza, the greatest philosopher to ever live.

[ArkansasHarvest]

@alifeofreason ..who?