Discourse on Method and The Meditations - Rene Descartes

"What is Real?"

Reading/Discussion Schedule

August 31 - Discourse 1; September 3 - Discourses 2-6;

September 10 - Meditations 1-3; September 14 - Meditations 4-6

September 3 

1. What does Descartes mean by the statement: "there is only one truth of each thing."?
2. Describe the steps that lead up to Descartes' "cogito." What follows?
3. How does Descartes know that God exists?
4. How does Descartes ultimately acquire certainty of anything?

September 10

1. What is required in order to be a sceptic? What are the risks and benefits?
2. What if there exists no "I"?
3. What is the most important lesson for Descartes w/r/t to the wax?
4. How does Descartes know that there is something besides Descartes? 

September 14

1. What is objective reality?
2. What is the connection between objective reality and cause/effect?
3. What is the difference between essence and existence?
4. Which one of Descartes' proofs of God's existence is best?

September 7 - Write one page on either a) What is Real? or b) What does it mean to be Cartesian? 

Aim for creative thought. This is about ideas that you have had from reading Descartes.