Descartes\' Famous Maxim \"I; I \"? Why

¶ … Descartes' famous maxim "I; I "? Why statement fundamental method? (3-4 Paragraphs) Describe Newton's method. How arrive conclusions? (3-4Paragraphs) Describe views John Locke: state nature, social contract, revolution, govern, property rights.

Q1.Descartes

Descartes began his famous series of Meditations with a resolution to doubt everything: this kind of hyperbolic skepticism was used to advance his use of the deductive approach to philosophy. Descartes was fundamentally a rationalist, and believed that truth could be obtained only through mental reasoning, not through observation. Observation was rooted 'in the body' and potentially faulty, human observation. At the beginning of his philosophical tract, "his basic strategy was to consider false any belief that falls prey to even the slightest doubt" including his own existence (Skirry 2008). Sensations can deceive us, but logic cannot, since even if we are dreaming, 2+2=4. Eventually, after engaging in radical questioning of his belief structures, Descartes decided that because some entity is thinking and doing the doubting than 'I' (Descartes) exist.

"Descartes distinguishes intellectual perception and volition as what properly belongs to the nature of the mind alone while imagination and sensation are, in some sense, faculties of the mind insofar as it is united with a body" (Skirry 2008). The body, because of the subjective nature of sensation, can deceive us, but the mind cannot -- therefore 'I think; therefore I am.' Through rationalism and reason, Descartes makes 'I think, therefore I am' the core of his philosophy. "For if I convinced myself that my beliefs are false, then surely there must be an 'I' that was convinced. Moreover, even if I am being deceived by an evil demon, I must exist in order to be deceived at all" (Skirry 2008). So "I must finally conclude that the proposition, 'I am,' 'I exist,' is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind" (Skirry 2008).

The mind cannot be doubted and although it may be deluded, it still is a 'thing' that is being deluded, and thus it exists. The certainty that he exists enables Descartes, over the course of the Meditations, to prove that other minds exist and God exists. God exists because God exists as an idea in the mind and there is no way that a perfect being could be conceived of in the (imperfect) human mind. The existence of the idea of God in the mind means that God exists, hence the importance that Descartes has a (thinking) mind to have an idea of God.

Q2. Newton

Newton's method was fundamentally scientific and analytic in nature. While it was created to explain and justify Newton's own theories, it was also "truly universal in its scope" (Wesstein 2012). Newton's four rules are as follows "(1) we are to admit no more causes of natural things such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances, (2) the same natural effects must be assigned to the same causes, (3) qualities of bodies are to be esteemed as universal, and (4) propositions deduced from observation of phenomena should be viewed as accurate until other phenomena contradict them" (Wesstein 2012).

This method, in contrast to pure rationalism, was founded upon empirical observation of natural phenomena. Newton believed that rationalistic analysis alone could not be used to justify what was not immediately apparent. In contrast to Descartes, Newton was not concerned with doubting the existence of external reality. He was also comfortable in drawing common lines of causality between different observed phenomena, and did not doubt the senses to the point that the same 'natural effects' could be assigned the same causes. Universal principles were drawn from observation from life and are disproven by contradictory phenomena.

Isaac Newton's method provided the foundation of the modern scientific method of researching a subject, forming a hypothesis, and testing the hypothesis with a controlled experiment. The experimenter, after replicating the experiment finally forms a conclusion that stood as a universal 'law' until disproven through the same process. "Newton's inferences from phenomena realize an ideal of empirical success that is richer than prediction" (Williams 2012). Newton used rigorous abstract logic, but grounded his logic in observation. For example in one experiment involving light, "he found that the image produced by a prism was oval-shaped and not circular, as current theories of light would require. He observed a half-red, half-blue string through a prism, and found the ends to be disjointed" (Wesstein 2012). This meant that light moved faster when refracted.

Q3. Locke

John Locke believed that human beings agreed to enter into a social contract for their own best interests. In contrast to Thomas Hobbes, Locke did not conceive of life in a state of nature as nasty, brutish and short because of the absence of a sovereign ruler. Instead, people conceded some rights to the sovereign in exchange for certain protections and privileges. The people have the right to revolt when the sovereign reneges upon his obligations to people. "From the outset, Locke openly declared the remarkable theme of his political theory: in order to preserve the public good, the central function of government must be the protection of private property" (Kemerling 2008).

By living in a society, there is a tacit consent to be governed, but also an explicit or implicit agreement that the ruler governs wisely in exchange for exercising his or her powers. When citizens' rights to life, liberty, and property are infringed upon -- the very protections they sought from government -- they may dissolve their government. Locke did not insist upon the existence of a purely republican form of government, but he believed that even a king's authority rested upon the governed.