Introduction to Philosophy Online

Short-Answer Assignment #5

Winter 2020

From the “Great Thinkers” text: How did Montaigne differ from other intellectuals of his day? Please illustrate with an example.

Montaigne differed from the other intellectuals in that he was not proud of his big brain, nor was he a fan of thinking, self-reflection, and rational analysis (De Botton, 1935). For instance, Montaigne implied that learning that one had done or said something stupid was nothing at all. The main lesson learned should be that they are a blockhead.

From the “Great Thinkers” text: What was unique about the way La Rochefoucauld presented his ideas? In what way was his approach effective?

La Rochefoucauld presented is ideas in a slim book barely sixty pages, in which the human observations were only a sentence long. His approach was productive since it was neither dense nor confusing to readers (De Botton, 1935). Consequently, his observations are easily understood, unlike in other philosophical writings.

From the “Crash Course Philosophy” video: What is “Cartesian Skepticism”? How did Descartes go about questioning all of his beliefs?

“Cartesian Skepticism” is a form of skepticism where individuals question whether anything can be known to exist with certainty (Green, 2016). Descartes realized that most of the beliefs he held were false. Consequently, he began questioning everything he believed, since some of the things could also be false.

From the “Wireless Philosophy” video: Why did Descartes become dissatisfied with Scholastic Philosophy?

Descartes was dissatisfied with scholastic philosophy because he considered their highly abstract disputes pointless and futile. Besides, the philosophy was unable to accommodate the results of the rising mechanist physics, which sought to account for natural phenomena in mathematical terms (Schmidt, 2014). Consequently, the philosophical system needed a reboot.

From the Supplemental Reading: What reason does Descartes give for questioning each of his beliefs separately?

Descartes’ reason for questioning each of belief separately is the deception of his sensory organs (Descartes, 2013). For years, he had held false beliefs to be true, misguided by his senses.

References

De Botton, A. (1935). Great Thinkers. Philosophy. The School of Life. 10(38), 144-153.

Descartes, R. (2013). René Descartes: Meditations on first philosophy: With selections from the objections and replies. Cambridge University Press.

Green, H. (2016, March 7). Cartesian Skepticism – Neo, Meet Rene: Crash Course Philosophy #5 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLKrmw906TM

Schmidt, S. (2014, December 12). PHILOSOPHY – History: Descartes’ Cogito Argument. Wireless Philosophy [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iGjiSbEp9c