Study Guide Questions for Descartes' Discourse On Method

Instructions:

• Remember to answer the question.

• Use material from the text to answer the question and to demonstrate your familiarity with the relevant sections.

• Include material from class discussion.

• Demonstrate that you have "thought about the material".

• Use the vocabulary.

• Do not use the words ‘also’ or ‘very’. Do not begin sentences with the words ‘and’ or ‘but’. Do not use the phrases "I think," "I feel," or "I believe."

The exam questions will be taken from the questions below. You will be permitted to use your text.

Study guide questions for Part 1:

• Descartes describes how he became fed up with everything he had learned in college. What were his reasons?

• Descartes wrote Discourse on Method in 1637. What other interesting and relevant events were taking place in Italy during this same time?

• Of what heresy was Galileo accused?

Study guide questions for Parts 2 and 3:

• Why does Descartes wish to rebuild the “house of his beliefs”?

• In Part Two, Descartes describes the principal rules for the proper conduct of reason. Describe and give an illustration of each.

• In Part Three, Descartes describes four "provisional maxims" by which he will live during the time his beliefs are undergoing renovation. What are they? Describe and give an example of each.

• When one is lost in the forest, how far do you walk in a straight line before turning around and starting over again? Why?

Study guide questions for Part 4:

• How certain does Descartes wish to be about his beliefs? How certain is certain?

• Descartes is searching for one, certain thing upon which he can build the house of his beliefs. There are two ways he can look for this thing: he can go through all of his beliefs one at a time to see if he can find something certain, or…what?

• Descartes begins by doubting his senses. Does this mean our senses never tell us the truth?

• Next Descartes doubts the products of his reason. Does this mean that reasoning never tells us the truth? If not, then why does he doubt them?

• Having doubted his senses, the products of his reasoning, and every thought that has ever entered into his head, it seems there is nothing left that can be certain. But there is one thing left over that cannot be doubted. What is it?

• Cogito ergo sum, is often translated as "I think, therefore I am.” A better translation would perhaps be "I think, therefore I must also exist.” Explain why Descartes can know this with certainty. Why is it important?

• Having established that he exists, what sort of thing does Descartes decide he must be?

• Descartes determines that substances can be divided into two separate kinds: one corporeal, the other incorporeal. By what steps does he come to this conclusion?

• What characterizes these two kinds of substances?

• Descartes uses the word soul. What sort of a thing do we think the soul is today? What is the origin of the word soul?

• What role does God play in Descartes' argument?

• What does it mean to be perfect? What are the essential features of perfection?

• What are the steps in Descartes ontological argument?

• What does it mean to say that triangles don't exist in the physical world?

• There is a difference in how you know the things mentioned in the following two statements. What is it? 1. Two plus two equals four. 2. The water bottle is sitting on the table.

• What is the difference between knowing something as the result of thinking and knowing something through the senses?

Study guide questions for Part 5:

• Find the phrase "animal spirits.” What does this mean?

• To what is Descartes referring when he says “automata”?

• Descartes explains how humans and machines are distinct. What is the difference? How was it possible to tell them apart?

• Using this same argument, Descartes draws a distinction between humans and animals. How was it possible to tell humans from animals?

• Descartes argues that animals do not have a mental substance. If animals lack mental substance, then what is the appropriate way for human beings to treat animals? If animals lack mental substance, what follows from this?

• What's wrong with Descartes’ argument? Is this argument clear and distinct? Does this argument depend solely on reasoning, or does it also require making observations? If it requires making observations, then how clear and distinct can it be?

• Do you suppose that Descartes owned a dog? Did people treat pets differently during the 17th century? Why would this have made a difference in his argument?