René Descartes Essay Example for Free

Ren Descartes EssayPhilosophy begins as an art of wondering. This art of wondering, leads public into asking a number of questions about himself and the world around him. Variations in philosophical thoughts as result questions posed by man, help in allowance of philosophy. The purpose of this essay therefore, is to do a comparative analysis of Sophies World by Josteen Gaarder with three philosophical texts George Berkeleys Treatise on Human Knowledge, bathroom Lockes Essay on Human Understanding and Rene Descartes Passions of the Soul. We shall excessively show the roles of authors and texts in Philosophy. TREATISE ON HUMAN KNOWLEDGE VERSUS SOPHIES foundation One of the neat efforts of Berkeley in this work was to show that the world exists as it does because of the ideas perceived by the mind of God and as such, existence of things depends on their perception through the senses. in any case in Sophies World, Aristotle through his belief showed a similarity with Berkeleys stance in this text Treatise of Human Understanding. For Aristotle, highest degree of reality is what we perceive with our senses.Berkeley excessively said that existence is the state of being perceived by a perceiver, but on the contrary, Descartes in Sophies World believed that he exists because he esteems. It what is more government agency that his existence depends on his ability to think. He used such words like cogito ergo sum (latin) and je pense, donc je suis (French) all meaning I think therefore I am to illuminate his thesis on this. Plato while stressing the sovereignty of reason in Sophies World said that the reason squeeze out only give us the true reality of things and as such contradicted the empiricist approach of Berkeley.ESSAY ON HUMAN UNDERSTANDING VERSUS SOPHIES WORLD throne Locke illuminated in this work that idea is derived from experience of sensation or reflection, just like it reflected in Sophies World in which his fellow empiricists too stressed th e inevitability of experience as the source of true knowledge. David Hume in particular established that man has two types of perceptions, namely impressions and ideas. By impressions he means the external sensations of reality. By ideas he means the recollections of such impressions.Aristotle the trail blazer of empiricism, in alignment with the empiricists believed our reason to be completely empty until we have sensed something. John Locke in this book made an attempt to refute the notion of innate(p) ideas by proving that it does not exist, whereas in Sophies World, philosopher like Plato believed in an innate idea, an external world of ideas outside of the natural world. Descartes even believed that the idea of God is innate. PASSIONS OF THE SOUL VERSUS SOPHIES WORLDDescartes defined passions of the soul as a psychical state or thought that arises as a direct result of brain activity and such passions can move us to action. He also suggested that one needs to learn to contro l ones passions, for they can move one to perform vicious acts. Benedict Spinosa in Sophies World, suggested that we moldiness free ourselves from our feelings and passions only then shall we find happiness. Conversely, also in Sophies World, the Epicureans through the teachings of Aristippus believed that the aim of life is to attain the highest possible pleasure or passions and by so doing, they contradict Descartes belief.AN EYE ON THE ROLES OF AUTHORS AND TEXTS IN PHILOSOPHY Authors in philosophy play incredible roles in modification of philosophy through their texts. there various attempts to answer the underlying questions of nature and man have led to the developments of dialectical methods like thesis, antithesis and synthesis used in philosophy today. An eye on the three authors and philosophers Descartes, Berkeley and Locke whose works where compared with Sophies World above showed the vital role they played in philosophy.While Descartes was a rationalist, Berkeley and Lo cke were empiricists, but through their texts, they contributed in epistemology or theory of knowledge. CONCLUSION Having done these relations, we can see the successful deduction of similarities and differences between the Sophies World and three aforementioned philosophical texts. I tell that Sophies World is necessary philosophical paraphernalia needed by a neophyte in Philosophy as seen from its versatility in the course of this comparison done, and also how it covered aspects of history of Philosophy in such a sublime manner.POPE JOHN PAUL II MAJOR SEMINARY OKPUNO, AWKA NAME UMENABA asa dulcis C COURSE INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY COURSE CODE PHIL 101 REG NO PJPS/NAU/013/O69 LECTURER REV. FR DR. AUGUSTINE OBUROTA TOPICA COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SOPHIES WORLD WITH THREE PHILOSOPHY TEXTS WITH AN EYE ON ROLES OF AUTHORS AND TEXTS IN PHILOSOPHY DATE 28TH NOVEMBER, 2012 OUTLINES INTRODUCTION TREATISE ON HUMAN KNOWLEDGE VERSUS SOPHIES WORLD ESSAY ON HUMAN UNDERSTANDING VERSUS SOPHIES WORLD PASSIONS OF THE SOUL VERSUS SOPHIES WORLD AN EYE ON THE ROLES OF AUTHORS AND TEXTS IN PHILOSOPHY CONCLUSION.