Descartes And Hume Essay - 545 Words

There are three ways in which one is able to find truth: through reason (A is A), by utilizing the senses (paper burns) or by faith (God is all loving). As the period of the Renaissance came to a close, the popular paradigm for philosophers shifted from faith to reason and finally settling on the senses. Thinkers began to challenge authorities, including great teachers such as Aristotle and Plato, and through skepticism the modern world began. The French philosopher, Renà © Descartes who implemented reason to find truth, as well as the British empiricist David Hume with his usage of analytic-synthetic distinction, most effectively utilized the practices of skepticism in the modern world. Renà © Descartes was the first philosopher to†¦show more content†¦For in Descartes terms, it was plausible to doubt that one has a body, but impossible to doubt the existence of one’s mind; therefore â€Å"†¦self and mind must be identical† (Palmer 162). Hume on the other hand, took a different approach to the idea of self. He believed that there in fact was no such thing as selfhood. Instead he asserts that â€Å"it must be some one impression, that gives rise to every real idea. But self†¦is not any one impression, but that to which our several impressions and ideas are supposed to have a reference†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (597). By this he implies that in order to form concrete ideas, ones impressions of pain, pleasure, joy, etc. must be invariable throughout time. This, Hume states, we know without a doubt to be impossible. Passions succeed each other over time and give rise to new passions, therefore â€Å"†¦it cannot be from any of these impressions†¦that the idea of self is derived, and consequently there is no such idea† (597). Although like Descartes, Hume practiced the art of radical skepticism, he felt that if he could not utilize his senses to prove something it was meaningless. Hume continued development of Leibniz’s analytical-synthetic distinction, or in Hume’s words â€Å"†¦a distinction between relations of ideas and matters of fact† (Palmer 197). Analytical propositions are true by definition and are a priori, and therefore necessarily true. Synthetic propositions are not true byShow MoreRelatedThe Contributions Of Descartes And Hume3394 Words   |  14 PagesThe contributions of Descartes and Hume towards the issue of establishing: the existence of God Introduction: Arguments for and against the existence of god have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists and others for thousands of years. In Philosophy, these arguments involve primarily the disciplines of Epistemology and Ontology and can be categorized as metaphysical, logical, empirical, or subjective. 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David Hume begins his discussion of personal identity by denying thatRead MoreRene Descartes And Hume Essay1767 Words   |  8 Pagesmost influential metaphysicians of this millennium are Rà ©ne Descartes and David Hume, who both offered varying opinions on matters relating to consciousness, the self, and personal identity. Despite holding consistent viewpoints on some factors of the aforementioned, their contrasting perspectives provide additional insight into the essence of human existence. In his most notable work, â€Å"Meditations On First Philosophy†{1641}, Rà ©ne Descartes attempts to disprove skeptics who say that an individual simplyRead More Hume And Descartes On The Theory Of Ideas Essay619 Words   |  3 Pages Hume and Descartes on The Theory of Ideas nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;David Hume and Rene Descartes are philosophers with opposing views about the origination of ideas. Descartes believed there were three types of ideas which are, innate, adventitious and those from imagination. He stated since he exists and his idea of what a perfect being is, such as God, then God exists. Hume, on the other had, believed ideas came only from one thing, impressions. Both theories have their strengths and weaknessesRead MoreIdeas of Descartes, Plato, and Hume Essay880 Words   |  4 PagesIdeas of Descartes, Plato, and Hume The immediate starting-point of Platos philosophical speculation was the Socratic teaching. In his attempt to define the conditions of knowledge so as to refute sophistic skepticism, Socrates had taught that the only true knowledge is a knowledge by means of concepts. The concept, he said, represents all the reality of a thing. As used by Socrates, this was merely a principle of knowledge. Plato took it up as a principle of Being. â€Å"If the conceptRead MoreDescartes and Hume: A Look at Skepticism and Finding Stability915 Words   |  4 PagesRenà © Descartes was a skeptic, and thus he believed that in order for something to be considered a true piece of knowledge, that â€Å"knowledge must have a certain stability,† (Cottingham 21). In his work, Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes concludes that in order to achieve this stability, he must start at the foundations for all of his opinions and find the basis of doubt in each of them. David Hume, however, holds a different position on skepticism in his work An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding