The video that we are suppose to watch and answer the questions is called Bernard Williams on Descartes ( 1987).
- Williams says that Descartes lived in a time of scientific and theological controversy, and that there was widespread skepticism about the possibility of knowledge. Nevertheless, Descartes was optimistic. How is our time similar or different? Are you optimistic or skeptical about the possibility of knowledge?
- Explain the use that Descartes makes of skepticism. If Descartes is optimistic about the possibility of knowledge, then why is he introducing all these weird doubts about whether you can know if you’re dreaming, or can know that you’re not being deceived by an evil demon?
- Descartes’ efforts to show that knowledge is obtainable begins with his famous “I think, therefore I am” and proceeds through the crucial step of demonstrating, he hopes up to the standard of geometric proof, that God exists. To do this, he needs to claim that he has an a priori idea of God and can know a priori that that idea must have come from an actually existing infinite being. Explain what “a priori” means and discuss whether existence can be demonstrated through a priori reasoning.
- Descartes argues that our idea of matter (of “material substance”) originates in the understanding rather than from sensation. How does he argue for this and is his argument compelling?
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