Philosophy

 
1. How would you explain Dualism to Aristotle? Do you think you could persuade Aristotle that Dualism is a better theory than his? What do you think is the most important difference between Dualism and Aristotle’s Hylemorphic theory?
2. What point(s) is Descartes making with his example of the piece of wax in the Second Meditation? How does this support his Dualism theory? What is he saying about the nature of reality and of how we gain knowledge of the world and what we can know? What does Descartes’s understanding of the physical world have in common with that of Galileo?
3. Explain the role of God in Descartes’s philosophy? What is the relation between God and the mind and between God and the world? How is Descartes able to be certain that God exists? How is he able to be certain of anything?
4. Explain the role of God in Descartes’s philosophy? What is the relation between God and the mind and between God and the world? How is Descartes able to be certain that God exists? How is he able to be certain of anything?
5. What is the significance of “I think, therefore I am” in Descartes’s philosophy? How does he use it with his geometrical method?