Sunday, March 22, 2020
Wiping The Slate CleanDescartes Essays - Belief, Thought
Wiping The Slate Clean:Descartes One of Descartes earliest arguments discusses the law of non-contradiction. In his reasoning, everyone has the same amount of good sense and access to the truth when they are born into this world, yet people obviously disagree on many issues. The reason for this fact is that people do not follow the same line of reasoning because they do not take the same things into consideration as a result of different life experiences. In Descartes law of non-contradiction there is only one truth for every question, so when two people disagree on something, one of them has to be right. A good example of this would be if there were two people. One thinks red is the best color and the other person believes blue is the best color. For Descartes, one or both of these people must be wrong because there is only one truth. His task is to look at this situation and locate who holds the truth. If certain guidelines could be established by which everyone could come to conclusions, it would be possible to o btain this truth, and we would no longer have diversity in opinions. Descartes makes this point in reference to Philosophy when he says, ?seeing that it has been cultivated for many centuries by the most excellent minds that have ever lived and that, nevertheless, there still is nothing in it about which there is not some dispute To him, this means that a primary goal of philosophy, finding truth, has not been achieved. He sets forth to change that by implementing a new method of philosophy. He gathered from this that if everyone disagrees, everything that people believe must be unsure, and therefore a poor basis for truth seeking. He comes to this realization when he says, ?I deemed everything that was merely probable to be well-nigh false.? Descartes new method promoted that, to find truth, you must purge everything based upon anything unsure. Descartes wants to strip himself of all beliefs, including everything he has learned and sensed. Our senses sometimes deceive us, and it only makes sense to choose never to trust in something that has failed us in the past. book learning, at least the kind whose reasonings are merely probable and that do not have any demonstrations, having been composed and enlarged little by little from the opinions of many different persons, does not draw nearly so close to the truth as the simple reasoning that a man of good sense can naturally make about the things he encounters.? He believed knowledge gained from sensation or from books is not clearly true, Descartes needed to find a way to develop a new belief system. He described this new method in four rules, which if obeyed, would constitute a satisfactory belief system and eliminate all disagreement. The first rule states that one should only accept as true what he sees clearly and distinctly as true. Nothing with any possibility of falsity can be included. This brings up an interesting point. Is there anything that is so absolutely true? It would be very difficult to have something be thought of as true to everyone, but that is the job Descartes imposed upon himself. The second rule says it is necessary to break down all problems into as many pieces as possible so it is easier to solve them clearly. The third rule states he will start with the simplest and easiest way to understand objects and move up to more complex issues. The fourth and final rule states that he must periodically check his work, making sure that there is no possibility that he could exclude anything. This is the method by which he plans to establish indisputable truth. Though he proposes we wipe the slate clean, Descartes claims that he is not a skeptic because skepticism ends in doubt while his goal is to firmly establish truth. Descartes is a methodical doubter who uses doubt as a tool to establish truth, so he does not simply propose that we abandon out beliefs without a plan. His four rules are the method by which he proposes to rebuild our beliefs. He argues that if you are going to throw away
Thursday, March 5, 2020
French Terms Related to Hanukkah and Judaism
French Terms Related to Hanukkah and Judaism Hanukkah is a Jewish festival of survival and freedom that lasts for eight days. Learn some French vocabulary related to this annual Jewish celebration. Le Nom du Festival: The Name of the Festival Because Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday with a Hebrew name, it may be spelled several different ways: English spellings: Hanukkah, Hanukah, Hanukka, Chanukahï » ¿French spellings: Hanoucca, Hannouccah, Hanouccah, Hanoukka Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Lights (la Fà ªte des Lumià ¨res) and the Feast of Dedication (la Fà ªte des dà ©dicaces). Les Dates de Hanoucca: Hanukkah Dates Hanukkah begins on the 25th of Kislev, the ninth month in the Jewish calendar, and lasts for eight days. It occurs on a different date every year of the Gregorian (solar) calendar - sometime in November or December. La Nourriture de Hanoucca: Hanukkah Food Food is a big part of the Hanukkah celebration. Most of the traditional foods are fried in oil, in remembrance of the oil that lasted for eight days, while others are made with dairy products: cheese   le fromagedoughnut   un beignetto fry   friremilk   le laitoil   huile (feminine)potato pancake (latke)   une galette aux pommes de terresour cream   la crà ¨me aigre Le Vocabulaire de Hanoucca ~ Hanukkah Vocabulary Here are the French translations for some terms related to Hanukkah, as well as Judaism in general: blessing   une bà ©nà ©dictioncandle   une bougieDecember   dà ©cembredoor   une porteDreidel (spinning top)   la toupieeight days   huit joursfamily   la famillegame   un jeugift   un cadeauJewish   juifkosher   casher, kashermenorah   la Mà ©norahmiracle   un miracleNovember   novembrepocket money   argent de pocheprayer   une prià ¨reSabbath   le sabbatsong   une chansonsunset   le coucher de soleiltemple   le templevictory   la victoirewindow   une fenà ªtre
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