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The Search for Mathematical
Formulations for Earthly Life
Descartes is remembered as the
true father of modern European Rationalism. Impressed by the recent
discoveries of Galileo and Kepler concerning the mathematical formulations
that described simply and elegantly the movements of the heavens (permitting
the world to set aside the horribly cumbersome formulations of the Ptolemaic
tradition) Descartes jumped easily to the belief that all of life
was undergirded by such pure or clear mathematical formulations.
Just as pure reason had discovered those celestial formulas, pure reason
would surely also unlock the formulations for life here on earth.
Believing this to be so,
Descartes set about to begin just that task--to start to lay out the fundamental
or foundational truths on which a mathematical edifice of formulas describing
earthly life could subsequently be built, his Discourse on Method
(1637).
This Method was to
go to the most fundamental of propositions that could be demonstrated through
logic to be absolutely true--which for him had to be the reality of his
own consciousness, the mind that posed the question in the first place.
It was also a natural starting point for him, given his underlying faith
in the human mind's ability to embrace the mathematical undegirding of
the universe.
The
Cogito
Put another way, the Method
was supposedly very rigorous in that it was willing to doubt to all propositions
until it got to a point where there could be no further doubt. And
that point to him was his own thinking itself: it could not be doubted
that he was indeed thinking, even as he doubted!. He could not certainly
doubt that he was doubting! Thus he was thinking. That was
an absolute certainty. And for Descartes the inescapable conclusion
was that if he were thinking, then he also had to exist: cogito
ergo sum. I think therefore I am.
To Descartes, this then was
self-evident before the natural light of human reason. He had not
depended in any manner at all on mere philosophical
tradition on
which to ground his argument. His methodology had set knowledge free
from the dictates of dogma or convention--to be based on "fact" that was
absolutely true. Or so he claimed. And the world basically
agreed.
From the cogito he
then jumped to the idea that even though he cannot say with any certainty
that things outside him exist--he can be certain that he is having thoughts
about them. Furthermore, these thoughts can easily embrace the idea
of the existence of things in their perfect form--as for instance a perfect
circle. Here he is acknowledging the correctness of the Idealism
of Pythagoras and Plato. Along this line, his thoughts can embrace
the idea of the existence of a perfect God.
His Demonstration of God's Existence
Where do such ideas come from?
He concludes that there has to be something beyond himself, "out there,"
that sets such thoughts into motion. And that reality out there can
not be less perfect than what his own thoughts can formulate--for how could
he conceive of something as being more perfect than it actually is?
It could not come from his own mind--for his own mind is itself imperfect,
given to doubt. No--the Perfect then must exist beyond himself, giving
rise to his present thoughts about such Perfection.
From this he jumps (and it
is a jump indeed) to the idea that the very Perfection of God is such that
God could not deceive him. Therefore the thoughts he was having about
a Perfect God had to be true. [Ingenius, but not very compelling
logic!] Further, being God by nature, God would not allow deceptive
thoughts to come among us--that God would allow only real or true thoughts
to come to Descartes' mind [Descartes does not allow for the existence
of a Deceiver--other than his own flawed doubts].
Probing the Question of Physical
Existence or "Physics"
Now he moves in his thoughts
(outlined in particular in his book Passions of the Soul) to the
existence of the substance of his own body--which he treats as a
physical extension beyond his conscious mind or soul. But the
two, body and soul (or mind) are closely linked so that they affect each
other directly (through the pineal gland, located at the base of the brain).
Nonetheless, it is only the body, as an extension, that is guided
by the mathematical laws of physics. [The soul, not being an extension
of any kind, does not exist on the basis of these same laws. It is
of a different order of being.]
Qualities such as color,
sound, smell, temperature, flavor, etc. related to extended substances
are not extensions themselves but are "secondary" qualities--as opposed
to the primary qualities such as mass and velocity or movement. Only
these primary qualities point to real existence. Only these primary
qualities respond to the laws of physics--mathematical laws describing
the physical machinery called reality. Descartes was very unclear
in his thinking about how then these secondary qualities existed.
Also, Descartes believed
that all physical reality was a continuous substance--of varying concentrations
of mass and of varying motions here and there throughout the cosmos.
The idea of a vacuum was inadmissible to him.
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Descartes:
An Overview
His
Life and Works
His
Major Ideas
His
Legacy
Descartes' Writings
Descartes'
major works or writings:
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Miles
H. Hodges
