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Philosophy
Question oneDescartes believed that reason is a gift every human being poses and that knowledge cannot be only be attained by books, but through the application of reasoning. His books presented complex scientific and philosophical ideas in a way that only the least sophisticated readers could understand. Due to his believe that every human being possessed the gift of reason, he believed that every human being would understand his arguments in his books. He at sometimes wrote his books in French and not in Latin so that people with formal education could easily understand him. In his evil demon conjecture, he stated that an evil demon is capable of tricking us to believe that the world we all perceive with all our senses is real. However, even in such instances, there is no one point when a human being is not thinking and due to these thinking, then human beings exist (Cogito ergo sum).Question twoSpinoza believed that there existed no dualism between God and the whole world. There is no need of people going beyond the present experience to seek for a being existing outside it. He said that God moves and often lived in nature. The entire universe is god. Nature or God can be interpreted as its own cause and is often self sufficient. Man in his egoistic ways has tried in all ways to imagine that God is like him and that GOD acts in the interest of man at all times. However, according to him, God does not love or hate. The nature of God is different from us and from our dreams and aspirations or interests. Therefore, human beings should stop equating themselves from God because He is infinite and self sufficient. There is no way man can equate themselves to God because God is above everything. He created everything in the universe himself.Question threeIn his theory to be is to be perceived, Berkeley concludes that all that individuals know about an object is only the perception of it. Individuals rarely think or know an object unless it is perceived by the mind. Since individuals are capable of perceiving other human beings in the way that they speak, he can only believe in their existence and in the whole world being identical to every individual. Thus, the assumption is that the world is analyzed with all the five senses and it often impossible to perceive the world without the five senses. We cannot make sense of an object or situation unless we perceive it. This theory was criticized by many due to the fact that he said we can only know an object by perceiving it. Question fourHe did not believe in innate ideas that an individual is born with. He said that our minds are often in a blank state. Experiences through senses and all our reflections filled this slate. He came up with distinction of simple and complex ideas. Simple ideas are those ideas originating from the senses which cannot be broken down. Complex ideas, on the other hand, are a combination of all simple ideas. From these two ideas, one could know the primary and all the secondary qualities of an object. All objects have specific attributes that may fall in either the primary or the secondary qualities. Primary qualities are found in the object and are objective because they are perceived by almost every individual. Secondary qualities are all attributes that the perceiver brings to the object. These are subjective because everyone brings different qualities to the objects. Thus, his theory of representative realism came from all these ideas. The world represents the entire external world but does not necessarily duplicate it. Instead of experiencing the world first hand, we first experience it indirectly via representations.Question fiveLeibniz explained that the world is made of infinity of many simple substances known as the monads which were characteristic of his rationalistic views. Aggregates are built from these simple things which according to him are elements of all true reality. Simple substances were incapable of being created or destroyed. Thus, Leibniz entails that monads are composites which are classified as a collection of simples. These simples cannot be broken down of their constituent parts due to their smaller magnitude thus they are true atoms of nature. This means that they are the main constituents of our universe due to them lacking parts. Due to this, they are the only true identities. These monads must possess certain qualities or they cease to exist. Due to their unique status, they must possess qualities different from other monads.Question sixHume asks us to consider what impression brings about our conception of the self. Human beings tend to perceive themselves as selves- independent and stable entities existing over time. However, no matter how hard we examine our own personal experiences, we do not observe anything that is beyond our feelings, sensations and also our impressions. It is impossible to observe ourselves in a unified way. There is no particular binding that brings our specific impressions together. We can never be aware of ourselves but only aware of our experiences at a certain time. Thus, the self is only a bundle of perceptions. This may be due to our attribution of our existence to a collection of associated parts. This belief is mainly natural with no known logical explanation.Question seven
Hume made an observation that many people acknowledge a conjunction between two events. However, there is no way to establish a connection. This makes him argue against the concept of cause and effect. People assume that one thing causes another, but there is also the possibility that one event does not cause another. He claims that causation is only a question of association which is unfounded and also a meaningless belief. When we experience two events following each other repeatedly, we tend to associate them with cause and effect and this is only logical. The instinctive belief of causality is rooted in our biological concepts such that it is very difficult to erase. By accepting out limitations, we can deal with this situation by functioning without abandoning all our beliefs about cause and effect.Question eightKant achieves the Copernican revolution by turning all his focus of philosophy from metaphysical speculation of the reality nature to critically examining the nature of the thinking and the perceiving mind. He acknowledges that reality is a joint that creates external reality and the human mind. We can only acquire knowledge by regarding the latter. To solve the problem presented by Hume, he rubbishes the idea that the mind is a blank state. The mind not only receives information but also shapes the acquired information. Knowledge is, therefore, not something that is created externally and then introduced into the mind. Rather, it is created by the mind by filtering various sensations using the faculties of our mind. Thus, individuals only grasp knowledge in its general form informing our experiences.Question nineIf Hume’s arguments are true, then science and knowledge have implications in general. This is because science tends to make us believe that events occur in conjunction. Science makes us tend to believe in causation and effect. This can be detrimental to human beings because even in the events where causation and effect relationship does not exist, people will only believe in their existence because science suggests so. On the other hand, knowledge may inhibit an individual from believing in their perception. An individual with a considerable level of knowledge will tend to believe that they are independent entities. This is not right according to Hume because our personal experiences originate from our senses.Question tenTo exist independently means that one is stable alone without the help of others. Individuals do not have necessarily to depend on any other person’s ideas or perceptions. What other people tend to perceive us or say about us does not bother us. Individuals tend to think of themselves in a certain way and that is how they live for the rest of their lives. What other scholars have written or what other individuals close to us say is not put into much consideration. Every individual can operate on their own with what they perceive as right according to their own ethical beliefs.
