Exam 9: The Rationalist: René Descartes

Rationalism holds intuition to be the primary source of knowledge.

Descartes rejected methodic doubt.

What are Descartes arguments for Cartesian dualism? Do you find them persuasive? If you do not, do you endorse monism, or not? Explain your answer.

Descartes called common sense rare .

Who developed an argument prior to Descartes that was similar to the Cogito argument?

Princess Elizabeth wrote Discourse on Method .

Descartes first wrote Rules for the Direction of the Mind .

Descartes held that humans are a mixture of

Outline the coherence theory of truth. Do you believe that this is a correct view of what truth is, or not? Explain your answer.

A posteriori knowledge is empirical knowledge.

Descartes liked to sleep in.

Descartes discovered that Aristotle s writings on nature contained errors.

Who developed the purest form of ontological argument?

Descartes believed that everything could be doubted.

Cogito, ergo sum is Latin for

An attempt to prove the existence of God by referring to the meaning of the word God is

Descartes wrote in everyday French.

Rene Descartes was the first philosopher to study the process of thinking.

Descartes believed that there was need of a method for finding truth.

What is the only thing that can give meaning to experience, according to rationalists?