Model essay of western philosophy: Descartes' "I think, therefore I am"
Abstract: Descartes' "I think, therefore I am" is the starting point of all his epistemological philosophy and the end point of his "universal doubt". From this point, he confirmed the legitimacy of human knowledge. That is to say: Descartes is an idealist, but he doesn't see it from this proposition. I think therefore I am not an idealistic proposition, but a purely epistemological content. Descartes is an idealist, which is a conclusion drawn from his philosophical system, not from this proposition that is neither materialism nor idealism. When I doubt the existence of everything, I don't have to doubt my own thoughts, because the only thing I can be sure of at this time is the existence of my own thoughts. I can't deny my existence, because when I deny and doubt, I already exist So it is contradictory to deny one's existence. Denial and doubt are a kind of thinking activity, so he said, I think, therefore I am. I think, therefore I am!
Key words: Descartes, I think, therefore, in the revival period of materialism and idealism, to understand Descartes' philosophy, we must first understand his life. Introduction to Descartes:
Rene & middot； Descartes (Ren&; Eacute Descartes, another translation of Descartes, was born in Toulon-Lyle, France in March 3 1596-1died in Stockholm, Sweden in February), a French philosopher, mathematician and physicist. He made an important contribution to the development of modern mathematics, and was known as the father of analytic geometry because he formulated the geometric coordinate system. He is also the founder of modern western philosophy. His philosophy deeply influenced later Europeans and founded the philosophy of "continental rationalism". Descartes was born into a low-status aristocratic family, and his father was a member of the Brittany Parliament. At the age of eight, Descartes entered the Jesuit school in Lafleche for education, and was well trained in classical studies and mathematics. 16 13 studied law in Paris, 16 16 graduated from the University of Poitiers (Universit &; Eacute de poitiers). After graduation, Descartes decided to travel all over Europe and concentrate on seeking the wisdom in The Great Book of the World. So he enlisted in the Netherlands on 16 18 and traveled with the army. Descartes 162 1 year retired, 1628 moved to the Netherlands and lived there for more than 20 years. During this period, Descartes devoted himself to philosophical research and gradually formed his own thoughts. He published many important collections in Holland, including Methodology, Metaphysical Meditation and Philosophical Principles. Descartes came to Stockholm at the invitation of Queen Christina in 1649, but unfortunately he got pneumonia in this "land of bears, snow and rocks" and died in 1650 in February. His works were banned in Rome and Paris 1663. It was not until 1740 that Paris lifted the ban, in order to provide an alternative to the Newton world system that was popular in France at that time. It may be an exaggeration to say that rene descartes is the greatest philosopher in French history. Heidegger, a great German existentialist, once said: "Since Leibniz, the great development (change) of Descartes' basic theory in German ideological circles has not surpassed this basic theory at all, but only expanded its metaphysical breadth, which created a premise for19th century. However, in the eyes of people who believe in empiricism and materialism, Descartes has a fatal handle, that is, his famous saying that has echoed for centuries: "I think, therefore I am." This famous saying, regarded by Descartes as the starting point of his own philosophical system, was regarded as the general representative of extreme idealism in eastern European academic circles in China in the past and now, and was severely criticized. Many people even regard Descartes as "putting the cart before the horse", "existence must precede consciousness" and "thinking is impossible without body". In our reading forum, a netizen specially wrote the pseudonym "I am thinking" for himself to show his firm belief in materialism.
Descartes' main philosophy of science: Descartes' philosophy began with science. He is a great mathematician and physicist, and also has profound attainments in astronomy. Descartes' most important contribution to mathematics is the creation of analytic geometry. Descartes succeeded in connecting algebra and geometry which were completely separated at that time. Descartes proved to the world in his book Geometry that geometric problems can be reduced to algebraic problems, and geometric properties can also be discovered and proved through algebraic transformation. Descartes introduced the concepts of coordinate system and line segment operation. Descartes' achievements in mathematics provide a solid foundation for future generations to engage in calculus, which is an important cornerstone of modern mathematics. In physics, Descartes also made some achievements. He demonstrated the law of refraction for the first time in Refractive Optics. He also explained the causes of people's visual impairment and designed a kind of lens to correct their vision. In mechanics, Descartes developed Galileo's theory of motion relativity, emphasizing the linearity of inertial motion. Descartes discovered the principle of conservation of momentum. He also developed some theories, such as universe evolution theory and vortex theory. Although there are many defects in the specific theory, it still has an impact on future natural scientists.
Descartes' thought and existence. (cogito, "consciousness" or "language") (being, "being" or "being")? Is "existence" other than "thinking" just the logical and rational basis for "thinking" to construct itself? If there is "existence" besides "thinking", how can it be expressed in "thinking" and how can it be expressed? If there is no "existence" outside of "thinking", why can our consciousness consciously realize its own non-self-sufficiency and seek an ontological basis outside of "thinking"? As Kant said, there is a metaphysical instinctive impulse in human nature, which is an eternal paradox of philosophy. Ancient philosophy directly asserted the ultimate reality that did not appear, and Descartes was one of them. It is generally believed that Descartes established human reason and destroyed the authority of God. Indeed, many modern western philosophers after Descartes can only talk about the problem of "existence" within the scope of self-evident consciousness, but the subtitle of Descartes' Meditations on the First Philosophy is: "Showing the existence of God and the difference between human soul and body". In the third and fifth meditation, he discussed the ultimate "existence" in the name of "God", which combined with the anti-dogmatism in the first and second meditation and formed a brand-new phenomenological thinking about existence. When Descartes established the self-evident principle of modern philosophy and stepped into self-study, he did not stay there like his successors, but jumped out quickly.
Here, Descartes' first step is to lead modern philosophy to the direction of self-subject, and the task of this step is to eliminate the problems of arbitrary ultimate entity and God. "I have always believed that the two issues of God and soul should be clarified by philosophical arguments, not theological arguments." (Descartes, 1986, page 3) As Hegel commented, doubting everything is the first essence of Descartes philosophy. Now, let's follow Descartes' skeptical thinking. Descartes doubted in the order of cognition. Descartes first revealed the deception of the senses: "Sometimes the tower is round from a distance, but it is square from a close distance;" Bdquo& ampbdquo I found that the judgment perceived by the outside world was wrong &; Bdquo& ampbdquo Any emotional experience I once thought I had when I was awake can also be had in my sleep. " (Descartes, 1986, page 53) Descartes spent a lot of time discussing the problem of sleep. Empirical realism holds that we can achieve objective reality by feeling experience. Once we feel it, we feel something that causes us to feel but is beyond our feelings. But each of us has felt something unreal in our dreams, even though we firmly believe that the dreams are real. Thinking about dreams has given great enlightenment to the masters of eastern and western philosophy. The Dream of Butterfly in Zhuang Zhou is closer to the ontological thinking: people think that Zhuang Zhou is reality and butterflies are dreams. Zhuangzi asked, why can't butterflies be reality and Zhuang Zhou be dreams? "I wonder if Zhou's dream is butterfly and" or "butterfly's dream is Zhou and"? Descartes, like Zhuangzi, thinks that from the intuitive point of view of consciousness, Descartes said, "So I decided that everything that once entered my mind is no more real than the illusion in my dream." Asking "nothing" means saying something you can't say. At the end of Logic and Language, Witt and Stein's Enigma and Heidegger's Poetry began to enter the philosophical topic. Descartes followed Anselmus's train of thought, entered into the thinking of faith, and discussed the ultimate "existence", which was also logically inevitable. Descartes did not insist on the unspeakable "nothing" directly, but indirectly said "nothing" through the description and analysis of the non-self-sufficiency of "existence", so his ultimate thinking is also phenomenological thinking. Descartes' philosophical thought made him apply it to natural science, so as to understand each other. He found four laws from logic, geometry and algebra:
1. Never admit that anything is true, only what I have no doubt about is true;
2. Every problem must be divided into several simple parts to deal with;
3. The idea must be from simple to complex;
We should check it thoroughly from time to time to make sure that nothing is missing.
Descartes applied this method not only to philosophical thinking, but also to geometry, and founded analytic geometry. Descartes first thought that doubt was the starting point, the knowledge of sensory perception could be doubted, and our senses could not be trusted, so he would not say "I see therefore I am" or "I listen therefore I am". From this, he realized a truth: we can't doubt that "our doubt" means that what we can't doubt is the "doubt itself" of this matter. Only in this way can we affirm our "doubt". But when people take it for granted or take it for granted, he is confused, which leads to his famous philosophical proposition-"I think, therefore I am harmonious." Descartes took this as the most basic starting point in metaphysics, and thus concluded that "I" must be something independent of body and thinking. Descartes also tried to prove the existence of God from this starting point. Descartes believes that we all have the concept of a perfect entity, because we can't get a perfect concept from an imperfect entity, so we must have a perfect entity-God. From the two points obtained, Descartes continued to infer that since the perfect thing (God) exists, then we can be sure that the previous demon hypothesis cannot be established, because a perfect thing cannot allow such a demon to deceive people, so we can be sure that "this world really exists" and the mathematical logic should be correct. In the real world, there are many features that can be rationally perceived, including their mathematical features (such as length, width and height). When our reason can clearly recognize a thing, then it must not be illusory, but it must be what we know.
Although Descartes proved the existence of the real world, he believed that there are two different entities in the universe, namely, thinking (mind) and the external world (matter), both of which come from God, and God exists independently. He believes that only man has a soul, and man is a binary being, who can think and occupy space. Animals belong only to the material world.
Descartes emphasized that thought is beyond doubt, which had an important influence on later European philosophy. I think, therefore, the controversy I caused lies in the so-called existence of God and animal monism (chimpanzee, octopus, parrot, dolphin, elephant, etc. Are proved to be intelligent), and the main idea of doubt is really helpful for research.
Because a perfect thing cannot allow such a demon to deceive people, we can be sure that "this world really exists" and the mathematical logic should be correct. In the real world, there are many features that can be rationally perceived, including their mathematical features (such as length, width and height). When our reason can clearly recognize a thing, then it must not be illusory, but it must be what we know. Although Descartes proved the existence of the real world, he believed that there are two different entities in the universe, namely, thinking (mind) and the external world (matter), both of which come from God, and God exists independently. He believes that only man has a soul, and man is a binary being, who can think and occupy space. Animals belong only to the material world.
This concept of ultimate existence cannot come from external experience or self-creation, so the only possible choice is that it is gifted in my mind. We should pay special attention to this passage of Descartes: "I use&; The word god lsquo refers to the person whose idea exists in my heart &; LsquoAt & rsquo; I can't reach this &; LsquoAt & rsquo Everything I have is perfect, but I can achieve it in my mind in some way. "
refer to
Russell's History of Western Philosophy
Liu Hua's existential philosophy.
Jin, Magda, 200 1 Cambridge celebrity history
Model essay on western philosophy II: Papers on the history of western philosophy &; Mdash& ampmdash Comparison of Eastern and Western Philosophy
Since ancient Greek philosophers, western philosophy has been based on strict logical analysis and reasoning. This recursive thinking will inevitably lead to the development of mathematics, so Pythagoreanism naturally becomes the mainstay of western philosophy. The characteristics of western thinking, such as strong logic, strong regularity, strong aggression, rigorous thinking and uncontrollable enthusiasm for knowledge of nature and ultimate truth, all stem from this. On the contrary, the oriental philosophy represented by China, in the long history of thousands of years, has perfectly integrated Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, is quiet and euphemistic, emphasizes the harmony between man and nature, pursues the continuous purification of the soul, and finally reaches the realm of leaving the universe and entering the universe. Mr. Feng Youlan said, "China philosophers don't need scientific certainty, because all they want to know is themselves; Similarly, China philosophers don't need the power of science, because what they want to conquer is their own mind. For them, the content of wisdom is not knowledge, nor is it a function to increase their wealth. "
In short, the purpose of western philosophy is to increase positive knowledge, and the purpose of eastern philosophy is to improve the spiritual realm. The former must achieve its goal through continuous development, expansion, attack and destruction, and regard uncontrollable desire as the only driving force to promote its own development; The latter emphasizes the doctrine of the mean, extremes meet, harmony and tranquility, harmony between man and nature, and contentment is the motto.
The greatest influence of ancient Greek philosophy on the western world is that it left the concept of logic, which is exactly what our scientists and technicians in China are ashamed of today, because our ancestors did not have this legacy. But what about this strict logical concept? Its basis is nothing more than the same rate (A is A), contradiction rate (A is not A) and intermediate rate (A cannot be both A and A, nor can it be neither A nor A). This theory has such a deep influence on westerners that they can't understand that "X is both a and a" and the pursuit of logic is unstoppable. China's philosophy is dominated by the paradox contrary to the West, that is, it does not pursue clear logical relations and has a high acceptance of chaotic state. Western philosophy focuses on ideas and expects to find the ultimate truth through constant logical reasoning.
Why is there such a difference? Let's compare the conditions for the emergence of eastern and western philosophy: everything has stages of production, and the process of production may not be clear, but it may be vague. This requires exploring the source of things, starting from scratch, sorting out the development of things, and trying to predict their future development, and philosophy is no exception. In the study of western philosophy, ancient Greece is an indispensable part and ancient Greek philosophy is the source of western philosophy. Western philosophy originated in ancient Greece, and has gone through the stages of ancient Greek philosophy, _ _ philosophy, modern philosophy and modern philosophy. In its long-term development, the philosophical issues concerned by western philosophy are constantly changing, and there have been two turns of modern philosophy and modern philosophy. The problems discussed in modern western philosophy mainly focus on epistemology, while modern western philosophy has begun to change to humanism (the characteristics of contemporary philosophy are not obvious, and the generalized culture named after modernity is more distributed in literary criticism, anthropology and some marginal issues, but it is still in the development stage of modern western philosophy. Although the development of western philosophy after ancient Greece was not smooth, it still inherited the philosophical spirit of ancient Greece. Both mdash& ampmdash show concern for the reasons behind various phenomena and the pursuit of certainty; Unlike western philosophy, the emergence of China's philosophy did not find a clear starting point, nor did the early philosophers of ancient Greece try to completely break away from tradition or create new traditions. Most scholars believe that China's philosophy began in the Book of Changes, and can even be traced back to earlier concepts, such as Yin-Yang and Five Elements. Since then, the development and theoretical basis of China's philosophy and science often come from these traditional ideas. Throughout China's philosophy, the inheritance of various theories is obvious. Although the issues discussed by various schools are different, they mainly focus on political ethics, that is, they all show concern and norms for people.
The emergence of philosophy needs certain natural, social and economic conditions, such as ancient Greek philosophy, which is the initial stage of western philosophy, and China's philosophy is no exception. However, due to the lack of ancient Greek classics and incomplete information, it is often the fragmentary records of some biographers or philosophers, which greatly limits the comprehensive understanding of ancient Greek philosophers' thoughts and the comparison between Chinese and western philosophy. The following is a comparison of the initial conditions of ancient Greek philosophy and China philosophy, trying to reveal the differences between Chinese and western philosophy from the source, so as to better understand the trend and development of the two philosophies and finally realize mutual exchange and integration:
First, natural conditions: ancient Greece was mountainous and did not have farming conditions. It doesn't have fertile land like most ancient civilizations, but it is suitable for planting fruit trees, especially grapes and olives. Most of the wine and olive oil it produces are exported. Therefore, fundamentally speaking, ancient Greece was still an agricultural economy, not a commodity economy as some scholars thought. In the case of poor land transportation and lack of farming conditions like China, the economic development of ancient Greece must make use of its good coastline and vigorously develop maritime trade, and then it can communicate with other regions through the ocean and exchange needed goods. Therefore, ancient Greece formed a relatively developed commodity economy in the process of maritime trade. In the process of economic exchanges with other regions, we have the opportunity to contact different civilizations (such as Asian civilization and Egyptian civilization), learn their achievements and cultural essence, and criticize, transform and synthesize them, thus forming a philosophy-scientific culture with ancient Greek characteristics. In terms of natural factors, the geographical environment of China is very different from that of ancient Greece, because the natural conditions of China are different from those of ancient Greece. First of all, China is vast in territory and abundant in natural resources, with convenient land transportation and relatively developed agriculture. Economic exchange is mainly through the exchange of needed goods between inland countries (even concentrated in several vassal countries), but it is not necessary or difficult (because although China also has a long coastline, the Pacific Ocean was under the navigation conditions at that time). Secondly, in ancient times, due to the limitation of traffic conditions, the cultures in the same area were often similar. For example, there are no fundamental differences in the cultures of countries around China (such as Indian civilization), or China is a "cultural satellite country" of culture. Although they are different in specific performance, they are essentially facing their own "inner culture". Such external conditions limit the vision of China culture to a similar traditional environment and become an introverted culture. Thirdly, China's culture was the advanced culture at that time, and it was often difficult for advanced culture to accept and identify with cultural backwardness, while cultural backwardness could well accept and identify with advanced culture (such as ancient Greece and Japan). Therefore, under the influence of so many natural conditions, ancient China had little contact with other different civilizations, and then introduced less advanced cultures from other civilizations, forming a unique, stable and perfect cultural structure. These natural conditions make China's philosophy characterized by closed self-development and stability.
Second, social conditions: due to the barrier of natural factors, it was difficult for ancient Greece to form a unified centralized state under the historical conditions at that time, and the natural isolation of the city-states was conducive to the independent and free development of the city-states. In the relatively independent situation, according to the actual situation of the city-state, many forms of government have emerged, including tyranny, oligarchy, nobility, harmony, democracy and monarchy. This situation "really benefits from the relatively fragmented geographical environment and the political organization ability of the Greeks at a certain level of productivity". In a pluralistic environment, it can promote mutual comparison and thinking, and people's thoughts are also diversified, which stimulates people's critical spirit and creative ability, and is also conducive to forming a new and more correct understanding in mutual comparison. On the other hand, the famous democracy in ancient Greece was formed in some loose city-states, which generally provided social conditions for the emergence of philosophy, because under the democratic system, free thought and mutual debate can be allowed to exist legally, and the right of citizens to free thought can be allowed and even protected, which is conducive to the emergence and development of some ideas that deviate from tradition or are very fashionable at present, and even become a social fashion &; Mdash& ampmdash Some powerful people often invite some "celebrities" to get together for discussion, which greatly promotes the diversification of ideas. Some people try to open up other roads or criticize tradition &; Mdash& ampmdash is not a simple inheritance, but is used to put forward one's own views. In this free environment, it is possible to transcend tradition (mainly witchcraft and mythology), thus forming a new tradition of ancient Greek philosophy: surpassing tradition.
Therefore, ancient Greek philosophy has the characteristics of scientific spirit and continuous transcendence, so the city-state system and democratic system have created the necessary social environment for the emergence of ancient Greek philosophy. In China, although the early formation of a centralized country is conducive to the rapid economic development, the traditional thought of worshipping heaven and ancestors directly inherited from witchcraft and rituals has produced a value orientation of taking the family as the center and paying attention to the relationship between people in order to achieve physical and mental harmony, which has formed a unique Chinese culture in a unified country and vigorously promoted it through state power, making the ideological tradition form earlier and more consistent. On the other hand, the stricter ideological constraints limit the freedom of thought in a narrow range (although China's philosophy had a prosperous period in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it was already developed on the premise of traditional stereotypes), and there is little room for discussion, research and debate. Most thinkers regard traditional thoughts as the main source of political behavior, etiquette and moral norms, which further develops China's philosophy in the ethical (political) direction. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, hundred schools of thought's views were different, but they could not transcend the tradition, and they were all carried out within the limits of tradition. Their theories also try to seek proofs from ancient legends and ancient books to support their own theories, which also shows that China's philosophy does not take a positive criticism of tradition, but inherits and explains it, and this attitude has been strengthened to become the mainstream of China's philosophy: inheriting tradition.
3. Economic conditions: With the development of social economy, some people can directly get rid of material production and engage in mental work. Aristotle believes that philosophy comes from "the necessities of life and all kinds of things that make people happy and comfortable". Therefore, in ancient Greece, the discussion of politics and philosophy obtained the material premise after the socio-economic development, but most people mainly thought about political issues, while some people shifted their attention, turning their attention to political systems and political norms, as well as to people and society, and turning their attention to the reasons behind nature and phenomena. Using reason instead of experience to explore the causal relationship between phenomena, they marveled at the wonder of various natural phenomena. "First of all, they marveled at various puzzling phenomena and gradually accumulated bit by bit explanations. Explain some important issues, such as the movement of the sun, the moon and the stars and the creation of the universe. " And try to seek the non-divine and unchangeable reasons behind various natural phenomena, try to prove their rationality with theory, pay attention to the clarity of concepts and the rigor of logic, and then produce the unique philosophical-scientific thinking mode in ancient Greece. However, in ancient China, economic development should be more prosperous than in ancient Greece. Why didn't China, which had the premise of material satisfaction, "marvel" at nature like ancient Greece? The reasons are as follows: On the one hand, China traditional culture attaches importance to the role of experience. In China's various theories, both science and technology and ethics need to be practiced, even philosophy is no exception. Therefore, China ancient science has always been rich in practical technology and various inventions, but it lacks scientific theory resources; On the other hand, the intellectual class in China is also on the premise of material satisfaction, but they are not independent in social status, and must be attached to and nurtured by the powerful, so they need to serve the powerful for power and profit. Therefore, scholars pay attention to political struggle and power struggle, rather than the "useless thing" like ancient Greek philosophers.
On the contrary, in ancient Greece, the relationship between philosophers and dignitaries was generally equal and their personalities were independent. Some philosophers are even aristocrats themselves, so they can think freely and independently. The relative exceptions in China are Lao Zi and Zhuangzi. They are not scholars who serve the nobility. Their philosophical thoughts are also most similar to those of ancient Greece. They all put forward their views on the origin (even further put forward the stipulation of the general origin of Tao) and rich dialectical views. However, the Taoist culture they formed has not become the mainstream of China's cultural development. But determined by the general direction of China culture's concern for personnel. In the end, Taoism became mainly concerned with human survival. Although they also discuss nature, their ultimate goal is to cultivate one's self-cultivation rather than to find the origin of the world, thus forming a development direction different from that of ancient Greek philosophy and eventually becoming a religion of self-cultivation. Thirdly, the ancient Greek philosophy regards nature as the object of understanding. China's ideological tradition of "harmony between man and nature" formed under the influence of primitive mythology and primitive religion, and his thought of respecting heaven and filial piety have great influence on the development of China's philosophy. Among them, the idea of "respecting heaven" is particularly important, and "respecting heaven" is based on faith and awe, so it regards heaven as something beyond doubt and has a sacred position. As for whether this "heaven" is God or something else, according to China's traditional thought, it goes without saying that there is no need to care. Therefore, "heaven" does not have the great power of the gods like western myths and religions, nor does it have the supremacy of the origin of all things. Although everything comes from "heaven", it needs the change of Yin and Yang and the metaplasia of the five elements to produce everything, so it does not form an absolute way of thinking like ancient Greek philosophy. In a word, when facing natural things, China culture always avoids paying attention to the reasons behind natural phenomena, and more often falls into reality. It solves practical problems and regulates people's behavior through experience. Ancient Greek philosophy paid attention to "what is it?" China's philosophy discusses "how to do it?" .
What has been discussed above is the comparison of different ideas between Chinese and western philosophy and the mutual comparison of initial conditions of Chinese and western philosophy, from which we can see the great differences in direction and methods between Chinese and western philosophy, but it is not important to find out the differences between them from the comparison. What is more important is to find a new foothold and combination point for the integration of Chinese and western philosophy, thus forming a solid foundation and realizing the integration of Chinese and western cultures and the great rejuvenation of Chinese culture!
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