Philosophy
2006-10-01 08:02:58 · 4 answers · asked by akers_27 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Homework Help
His teachings went against the Catholic Church. Thus, he has deemed a heretic.
We would not want to upset the apple cart, would we?
2006-10-01 08:05:06 · answer #1 · answered by Teacher Man 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Descartes was trying to disprove skepticism. And he did it by assuming that we know nothing. He threw out anything the possibility that someone can know something without certainty. In order to refute the skeptics, he started from scratch. He dismissed knowledge a priori (things we know purely through reason, like 2+2=4) and the certainty of knowledge of certain mental states. This means he even threw out knowledge we gain from our senses because our senses can fool us. Thus, the only thing he could conclude was that he existed because he could think (the famous line- I think, therefore I am). It was so radical that he couldn't even conclude that he had a body due to throwing out those things mentioned above. This was basically the only conclusion he could come to and everything that followed fell into the problem of circular reasoning (most commonly known as the Cartesian circle). So if Cartesian certainty is required for knowledge, the only things we could know is of our own existence and of our own mental processes.
2006-10-01 08:12:36 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
He doubted absolutely everything (except that he was a thinking thing).
2006-10-01 08:12:49 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wasn't it that he just tried to be super rational about his conclusions?
2006-10-01 08:04:23 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋