Monday, April 11, 2011
Not what it seems
I have always held the thought of, we think therefore we are, very close to my heart. However, put in the context of Descartes' writings, I feel as though I need to give him less credit. Descartes logic is completely absurd and self contradicting. The writing itself is also very manipulative, and for lack of a better term pretentious. It's interesting to have read the work fully, because I now know that instead of Descartes being a believer in a strong mind being a defining factor of human life, he believes more that life itself could be simplified into an equation.
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Erin, I hope I don't destroy any illusions for you, but in French, Rene is a man's name. Although some progress had been made by the 17th century when he was writing, the social conditions were definitely still not such that women could have careers as prominent philosophers.
ReplyDeleteKeller, I'm glad you came to have a more nuanced view on Descartes after reading him fully -- this is the point of studying philosophy seriously, after all. But you don't need to completely throw out his ideas just because you discovered some parts of them you disagree with -- this is an opportunity for you to take the parts you agree with (e.g. a strong mind) and start to build a philosophy of your own on them.