Understanding Descartes and Empiricism

René Descartes was a smart thinker who had unique ideas about how we understand the world. His thoughts were very different from those of a group called empiricists. Let’s break down his ideas and how they compare to those of the empiricists.

Nature of Reality:

• Descartes believed that the mind and body are two separate things.

  • The mind is about thinking (he called it “res cogitans”), while the body is about physical stuff (“res extensa”).
  • He thought that being human mainly comes from our ability to think, which does not depend on our body.
  • For Descartes, we get knowledge through thinking rather than just through our senses.

• On the other hand, empiricists like John Locke and David Hume believed that we learn from our experiences.

  • They argued that our senses give us the main information about the world.
  • They even said that when we are born, our minds are like a blank slate, waiting to be filled with new experiences.

Certainty and Doubt:

• Descartes famously said, "Cogito, ergo sum," which means "I think, therefore I am."

  • He believed that just thinking proves we exist.
  • This idea is very strong compared to the empiricists, who said that our senses can sometimes trick us.
  • For Descartes, true knowledge comes from undeniable truths that we can figure out through reason.

• Empiricists, like Hume, pointed out that people can easily make mistakes based on what they see or feel.

  • Hume said that our experiences shape what we believe, and that we can never be 100% sure about anything because new experiences might change our views.

The Role of God:

• Descartes thought that a good God helps connect our thoughts and the world around us.
  • He believed if God is perfect, then what we clearly understand in our minds must relate to real things.
• Empiricists didn’t need to rely on God to explain knowledge.
  • They focused more on studying the world through observation and experiments, and felt that we didn’t need to think about God to gain knowledge.

How We Gain Knowledge:

• Descartes used a method called deduction.

  • This means he started with simple truths and used them to come to conclusions.
  • He believed that we are born with certain ideas in our minds and that we should focus on things that are clear and easy to understand.

• Empiricists preferred an inductive approach.

  • This means they gathered information through observations and used specific examples to draw general conclusions.
  • Their method allowed for changes and updates as new experiences came along.

What It All Means:

• Descartes’ ideas suggest that there are built-in ways for our minds to find truth without needing to rely on the physical world.

  • He believed we can understand ultimate realities through reason rather than just what we observe.

• Empiricists critiqued this and argued that it made people doubtful about the real world and underestimated how important learning from experiences is.

In short, Descartes believed that reason and the mind were more important than physical experiences, while empiricists thought that our senses and experiences were the key to understanding the world. These different viewpoints lead to various ideas about what reality and truth really are.