This essay is due in class on Wednesday, October 14 for sections 019 and 023 and on Thursday, October 15 for section 210. In the Hackett edition of Descartes’ book Meditations on First Philosophy, read from the first full paragraph on page 26, which begins “Among these ideas“ through the third full paragraph on page 27, which begins, “All these points demonstrate sufficiently. …” (Students who do not have access to the Hackett edition of the text can use the public domain translation. The excerpt corresponding to the passage mentioned above is available in the document Adventitious.pdf. A link to this document appears at the bottom of this page. The Hackett edition is considerably easier to understand.) In this passage, Descartes is wondering whether the ideas or images in his mind that seem to originate from sensory experience actually come sensory experience. In the first paragraph of this passage he calls these kinds of ideas “adventitious.” In other words, adventitious ideas are images in his mind that seem to originate from physical sensation. He is “taught by nature” to believe that these adventitious ideas do, in fact, enter his mind through the five senses available to his physical body and that these images do, in fact, correspond very closely to the things in the world they appear to represent. The “light of nature,” however, encourages him to question this assumption. When Descartes says he is “taught by nature” or has a “natural impulse” to believe something, he means that he has a natural, habitual, common sense, almost instinctive tendency to believe such things, for example, to believe that the images of things in his mind are actually caused by physical sensations in his body and that these images in his mind accurately represent things in the world outside his mind. When Descartes writes about the “light of nature” (or “natural light”), he is referring to reason, the ability to think critically, carefully, systematically, and logically about something. This “light of nature” prompts him to think very carefully about the nature of the ideas in his mind and to questions whether adventitious ideas really do originate from physical objects existing outside his mind. Essay Prompt Write a 250 to 300 word, double-spaced, typed essay addressing the following points. 1) Explain the reasons Descartes gives for why he typically trusts what he is “taught by nature,” and give a specific example from everyday life different from Descartes’ own example about fire. (Don’t merely list the reasons, but explain in your own words Descartes’ arguments supporting these reasons.) 2) Explain why the “light of nature” (or “natural light”) causes Descartes to doubt what he is “taught by nature.” (Again, explain in your own words Descartes’ arguments for doubting what he is “taught by nature.”) 3) In the second-to-last paragraph of this passage, Descartes uses the sun as an example. How does this example illustrate the difference between what Descartes is “taught by nature” and what Descartes can learn by applying the “light of nature”? If you quote from the text, explain the quotation. Do not use a quotation by itself as an explanation. I need to know that you understand the text, not that you can pick out relevant quotations. Additional resources for assignment File attachment Adventitious.pdf This essay is due in class on Wednesday, October 14 for sections 019 and 023 and on Thursday, October 15 for section 210. In the Hackett edition of Descartes’ book Meditations on First Philosophy, read from the first full paragraph on page 26, which begins “Among these ideas“ through the third full paragraph on page 27, which begins, “All these points demonstrate sufficiently. …” (Students who do not have access to the Hackett edition of the text can use the public domain translation. The excerpt corresponding to the passage mentioned above is available in the document Adventitious.pdf. A link to this document appears at the bottom of this page. The Hackett edition is considerably easier to understand.) In this passage, Descartes is wondering whether the ideas or images in his mind that seem to originate from sensory experience actually come sensory experience. In the first paragraph of this passage he calls these kinds of ideas “adventitious.” In other words, adventitious ideas are images in his mind that seem to originate from physical sensation. He is “taught by nature” to believe that these adventitious ideas do, in fact, enter his mind through the five senses available to his physical body and that these images do, in fact, correspond very closely to the things in the world they appear to represent. The “light of nature,” however, encourages him to question this assumption. When Descartes says he is “taught by nature” or has a “natural impulse” to believe something, he means that he has a natural, habitual, common sense, almost instinctive tendency to believe such things, for example, to believe that the images of things in his mind are actually caused by physical sensations in his body and that these images in his mind accurately represent things in the world outside his mind. When Descartes writes about the “light of nature” (or “natural light”), he is referring to reason, the ability to think critically, carefully, systematically, and logically about something. This “light of nature” prompts him to think very carefully about the nature of the ideas in his mind and to questions whether adventitious ideas really do originate from physical objects existing outside his mind. Essay Prompt Write a 250 to 300 word, double-spaced, typed essay addressing the following points. 1) Explain the reasons Descartes gives for why he typically trusts what he is “taught by nature,” and give a specific example from everyday life different from Descartes’ own example about fire. (Don’t merely list the reasons, but explain in your own words Descartes’ arguments supporting these reasons.) 2) Explain why the “light of nature” (or “natural light”) causes Descartes to doubt what he is “taught by nature.” (Again, explain in your own words Descartes’ arguments for doubting what he is “taught by nature.”) 3) In the second-to-last paragraph of this passage, Descartes uses the sun as an example. How does this example illustrate the difference between what Descartes is “taught by nature” and what Descartes can learn by applying the “light of nature”? If you quote from the text, explain the quotation. Do not use a quotation by itself as an explanation. I need to know that you understand the text, not that you can pick out relevant quotations. Additional resources for assignment File attachment Adventitious.pdf Nevitt Reesor Essay-Writing Guidelines PHIL 1305.xyz; Fall 2015, 2250 words Format All papers must be typed (computer-printed) in 12-point font and double-spaced with one-inch margins. In the top left corner of the first page give your name (not mine!), the title of your paper (Paper Guidelines above), the course number, section, and term (Fall, Spring, or Summer and year), and the word count as shown on this page. (There is no need for a separate title page.) The title does not need to be elaborate or creative, just something short that gives an idea what the paper is about. Every subsequent page should give your last name and the page number; the standard place for this information is the top, right-hand corner. Short essays must be between 250 and 300 words in length. Quotations and Citations No essay in this class is a research paper, so you are not required to consult any source other than the texts we are reading in class. A quotation from a published source, for example, from Plato’s Republic, may be given according to the form: “I say that justice is nothing other than the advantage of the stronger” (Plato 15). This quotation appears on page 15 of Book I in the Hackett edition. The essential requirement is that you are clear about the source of the quotation and that you locate the quotation within a page of text in the source from which you are quoting. I recommend using the MLA style manual, but I will not penalize student essays for formatting mistakes unless they produce errors or serious ambiguities in your paper or diminish its clarity. You are not required to include quotations in your essays. If you do include quotations, you should use them very sparingly. Papers in this class are extremely short, so include quotations only when they are important for supporting your interpretation of the author or for illustrating your point. Keep them as short as possible and to the point. I want to know whether you understand the material, not that you can transcribe books. If you are tempted to include a long quotation, paraphrase and summarize instead, but paraphrase accurately.  Your essay must include a works cited list or bibliography (or citation footnotes), which lists all the relevant publication information for every source you use as a reference in writing your paper. (The list does not have to appear on a separate page. It can be appended to the end of the essay.) This means that every essay must list the class text which is its subject, regardless of whether or not quotations from the text appear in the essay. In addition, you must list every other source you use in writing your essay. This includes books, internet sites, magazines articles, journal articles; in short, every source of any kind must be listed and properly cited. I recommend citing sources according to the MLA style manual, although I will accept any standard academic citation format. Below is the MLA citation format for the texts we will be reading in our class. (If you use a different Hackett edition, or if you use some versions of the class texts other than those listed on the syllabus, then you must, of course, provide the correct citation for those texts.) In each essay, cite only the text(s) you are actually using for that essay! Bibliography Descartes, René. Meditations on First Philosophy. 3rd ed. Trans. Donald A. Cress. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1993.
