Philosophy 10 -- Study Guide #1


Note: These are not practice quiz questions. They are intended to help guide your reading, to make sure that you haven't missed any of the really important points in the text. One way to use them is, after having finished the reading, to ask yourself these questions and see how well you can answer them. Whenever you have difficulty answering a question, try to find the place in the text that addresses that issue.
  1. Why does Descartes feel it necessary to start off by doubting things? What is he trying to accomplish? What things does he consider most important to doubt?
  2. Does Descartes think it's possible to doubt the existence of his own body? Why or why not? Do you?
  3. In Meditation Two there are two basic conclusions that Descartes arrives at, and everything else in that Meditation is used to support those two points. What are these two points? What are the arguments given for them?
  4. What are the characteristics that Descartes formerly considered as belonging to his self? Why does he, in Meditation II, go on to doubt whether they belong to him?
  5. Why does Descartes conclude that his nature includes nothing but thinking?
  6. Why is it a problem for Descartes that physical things, which can be imagined, seem to be more distinctly known than the part of his self that cannot be imagined? How does he deal with this problem?
  7. What does Descartes mean when he talks about perceiving something "clearly and distinctly"? What are some examples of things he perceives clearly and distinctly?
  8. How does Descartes argue in Meditation Five that it's possible to know some things through thought alone, without using the senses?
  9. Paraphrase the argument for the existence of God in Meditation Five.
  10. What is the point Descartes is making in Meditation Six, when he talks about a chiliagon? Why is he making this point?
  11. What does Descartes ultimately conclude about whether material objects exist? How does he argue for this conclusion?
  12. Explain how Descartes argues, in Meditation VI, that he must be distinct from his body.
  13. What does Descartes consider to be the relation between his body and his mind?