Dear CIE students -- just a reminder that tonight is the final Common
Hour for the semester. 7 p.m. in the Kaleidoscope, 4:30pm if you can't
make that one. I'm attaching a set of discussion questions from the
presenter, Mark Ellison (below). Hang on to these -- we still have one
more day on Galileo (do the readings listed on the syllabus) but we'll
be looking at Descartes next.
Nathan
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Discussion Questions to Accompany the Descartes Common Hour Presentation
In Part 1, Descartes writes, "Moreover, fables make us imagine many
events as possible when they are not." How does this quote apply to the
iPod exercise? List some examples of fables (you may use ancient fables
or instances from modern popular culture) that make people believe
things that aren't actually possible. How do you think these "fables"
affect attitudes toward science?
In Part 1, Descartes writes, "As for the sciences, in so far as they
borrow their principles from philosophy I decided that nothing solid
could have been built upon such shaky foundations." Is Descartes
correct-was science built on a shaky foundation? Descartes was writing
in the 1630s. Are things different now? Why or why not?
In Part 2, Descartes writes, "...never to accept anything as true if I
did not have evident knowledge of its truth: that is, carefully to avoid
precipitate conclusions and preconceptions, and to include nothing more
in my judgments than what presented itself to my mind so clearly and so
distinctly that I had no occasion to doubt it." Is it possible to live
one's life by such a creed? Is it necessary to rely on the judgments of
others? If so, how does one decide whose judgments to trust?
In Part 3, Descartes describes the moral code he has set for himself.
Is it humanly possible to follow a code such as the one Descartes
describes. Would it be possible to follow any code? In general, do you
think it is a good idea to construct a moral code to follow? Why or why
not?
At the end of Part 4, Descartes writes, "...we can distinctly imagine a
lion's head on a goat's body without having to conclude from this that a
chimera exists in the world. For reason does not insist that what we
thus see or imagine is true. But is does insist that all our ideas or
notions must have some foundation of truth..." Is Descartes
contradicting himself here? What elements of a goat-lion chimera could
be "true" even though such a creature does not exist? More importantly,
how can we discern what is true and what is like the chimera, a "figment
of the imagination"? Give some examples from the Common Hour
presentation of things that are "figments of the imagination." How was
it determined that they are not "true"?
In Part 6, Descartes repeatedly references the "truth" as determined by
scientific inquiry. ("Those who gradually discover the truth in the
sciences...", "...when I discover its truth...", etc.) Given that
scientific knowledge can change, does science discover the "truth"? Are
there different kinds of truth? If you think there are different kinds
of truth, can science discover any of them?
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