Name: Ontological Argument
Explain: Descartes and Anselm set out two arguments that proved God must exist
Illustrate: Descartes arguments premise is that god is a supremely perfect being, he then says that existence is a necessary quality of perfection, so comes to the conclusion that god must exist. Anselm’s version of the argument starts with the premise that God is the greatest conceivable being, and to be the greatest conceivable being must exist so therefore god must exist as otherwise he would not be as perfect as something that did.
Link: This is a strength of the notion that the idea of god is innate because we cannot experience the idea of god, but it must exist so is therefore innate.
Name: The trademark argument
Explain: This argument shows that god left some ideas in us, so the idea of god must be innate
Illustrate: The argument is as follows: Premise: i have an idea-----it didn't come to me through my senses------- I didn't make it up--------- i must have been born with it----- Something must have caused it to be there when i was born-------- That which causes something must have the attributes of that which it causes------Therefore the idea is perfect and thus the cause of the idea must be perfect------- Perfection = God
Link: This view proves that the idea of god is innate
or
One of the main arguments for idea of God being innate is the ‘trademark argument’ (Descartes)
It is argued that we have the knowledge of God that wasn’t experienced through senses and wasn’t made up. We cannot make God up because he is prefect by definition thus he cannot be imagined and we could not add or subtract to this idea of God. Therefore the only other solution of my knowledge of god is that I must have been born with it. God must be innate because we haven’t sensually experienced God and it is also impossible to have made him up.
Showing posts with label innate knowledge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label innate knowledge. Show all posts
Monday, 17 May 2010
Monday, 10 May 2010
strengths of the idea that knowledge is innate.
Intro: a belief that, as Leibniz said, there are ‘veins in the marble.’
We are born with some knowledge of some things, Plato argued maths, ethics and The Good. Descartes believed we have innate knowledge of God.
Strength : certainty
Descartes believed that we should not trust out sense experiences as they could be being placed in our minds by a demonic imp. With this theory, we don’t have to. We don’t have to doubt what we think. Eg according to him, we can be sure of God. We have an innate notion of God as a ‘supremely perfect being.’
or
Rationalists believe in innate knowledge which is knowledge we learn prior to experience, a priori. When we are born we have been ‘pre-packaged with software’. This software could be about the knowledge of Maths, Ethics, The Good, God and causality. Plato illustrated how human beings must have innate knowledge of maths through the illustration of Aristotle asking a slave with no education about geometry. The slave knew how to do the geometry therefore Plato argued that we must have innate knowledge of Maths. This reiterates the idea that as human beings we must have an awareness of Maths as well as other things before we are born, which is innate knowledge.
The first strength is the amount of certainty that is reached through innate knowledge regarding the way the world is. We can only be certain of the evidence in our own mental states and not that of experience, as we can be certain about our ideas but uncertain about the physical world. In Kantian terms; we can only know the phenomenal (our own minds) and not the noumental (external world). . One thought experiment that makes us sceptical of the physical world is Descartes hypothetical Demonic Imp, this explains that the physical world could be ‘merely delusions of dreams’ and there could be a meddling Cartesian demonic imp ‘to ensnare our judgement’. Our idea of the physical world is very clouded and uses only our judgement.
Another example is Plato’s allegory of the cave. Those trapped in the cave believe that projections and shadows on the cave wall to be the physical world, as this is what they have experienced. However, our certainty of the physical world lies in our innate ideas of ethics, reason and memory.
Another strength is through us living in a post-Freudian age, we as a society have become more comfortable with ‘hidden’ or ‘unconscious’ knowledge than Locke was. Although we don’t understand why we do all the things we do, we have learnt to recognise that something’s are motivated by things we don’t understand or know. Therefore we may have innate knowledge of the world and just not know until we have discovered it through reason.
or
A strength of the innate idea is the argument is the example of maths. Plato explains the story of Socrates and the slave, in which the slave had no prior education but still managed to understand basic shapes. This follows on from the idea that we all have a basic understanding of shape and geometry from birth. This is related to the theory that maths exists even if nothing else does and it is the one constant in the universe. This idea of maths adds strength to the argument of innate knowledge since it is very difficult to argue that it was 'taught' to the slave - therefore this knowledge was innate?
We are born with some knowledge of some things, Plato argued maths, ethics and The Good. Descartes believed we have innate knowledge of God.
Strength : certainty
Descartes believed that we should not trust out sense experiences as they could be being placed in our minds by a demonic imp. With this theory, we don’t have to. We don’t have to doubt what we think. Eg according to him, we can be sure of God. We have an innate notion of God as a ‘supremely perfect being.’
or
Rationalists believe in innate knowledge which is knowledge we learn prior to experience, a priori. When we are born we have been ‘pre-packaged with software’. This software could be about the knowledge of Maths, Ethics, The Good, God and causality. Plato illustrated how human beings must have innate knowledge of maths through the illustration of Aristotle asking a slave with no education about geometry. The slave knew how to do the geometry therefore Plato argued that we must have innate knowledge of Maths. This reiterates the idea that as human beings we must have an awareness of Maths as well as other things before we are born, which is innate knowledge.
The first strength is the amount of certainty that is reached through innate knowledge regarding the way the world is. We can only be certain of the evidence in our own mental states and not that of experience, as we can be certain about our ideas but uncertain about the physical world. In Kantian terms; we can only know the phenomenal (our own minds) and not the noumental (external world). . One thought experiment that makes us sceptical of the physical world is Descartes hypothetical Demonic Imp, this explains that the physical world could be ‘merely delusions of dreams’ and there could be a meddling Cartesian demonic imp ‘to ensnare our judgement’. Our idea of the physical world is very clouded and uses only our judgement.
Another example is Plato’s allegory of the cave. Those trapped in the cave believe that projections and shadows on the cave wall to be the physical world, as this is what they have experienced. However, our certainty of the physical world lies in our innate ideas of ethics, reason and memory.
Another strength is through us living in a post-Freudian age, we as a society have become more comfortable with ‘hidden’ or ‘unconscious’ knowledge than Locke was. Although we don’t understand why we do all the things we do, we have learnt to recognise that something’s are motivated by things we don’t understand or know. Therefore we may have innate knowledge of the world and just not know until we have discovered it through reason.
or
A strength of the innate idea is the argument is the example of maths. Plato explains the story of Socrates and the slave, in which the slave had no prior education but still managed to understand basic shapes. This follows on from the idea that we all have a basic understanding of shape and geometry from birth. This is related to the theory that maths exists even if nothing else does and it is the one constant in the universe. This idea of maths adds strength to the argument of innate knowledge since it is very difficult to argue that it was 'taught' to the slave - therefore this knowledge was innate?
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