Discourse on Method and The Meditations - Rene Descartes

"What is Real?"

Reading/Discussion Schedule

August 27 - Discourse 1-3; August 30 - Discourse 1-6;

September 6 - Meditations 1-3; September 10 - Meditations 4-6

August 27

1. What is the problem Descartes is trying to solve?
2. How does he know when something is true?

August 30 

1. What does Descartes mean by the statement: "there is only one truth of each thing."?
2. What danger results from separating body from mind/soul?
3. How does Descartes know that God exists?
4. Where does the self or one's identity reside?
5. How does Descartes ultimately acquire certainty of anything?
6. According to Descartes, what is real?
7. Fill in the blank - I ___, therefore I ___ in other Cartesian ways besides the cogito.
8. Bring your own interpretive questions.

September 6

1. Find a powerful statement by Descartes, one worth memorizing. (Cogito, Ergo Sum is already taken!)

2. Can one's mind be in a state of nonexistence?

3. What do the terms: objective reality and  formal reality mean?

4. What is the point of the wax account?

5. What are the connections between the following pairs: internal/external, cause/effect, objective/formal realities, truth/falsity?

6. Delineate the proofs of God's existence.

7. Place these terms in order - from most to least certain: a) objects, b) self, c) God.

September 10

1. Be prepared to discuss your weekly writing.

2. Bring your own questions about Descartes.

3. Which is more important: avoiding error or finding truth?

4. In what way is imperfection a part of God's perfection?

5. Explain Descartes' definition of sin.

6. How do we know that corporeal objects exist?

Write two pages on one of the following:

1. The Hardest Rule
2. On What is True
3. On Certainty

This is a warm-up piece. It will not count unless you say. Establish a point and then use Descartes' words to argue your claim.

1. God's Existence

2. The Locus of  Truth

3. i am vs. I AM

4. The Importance of Error

5. Essence vs. Existence

Class Discussion on God's Existence