The following is a guide to help you through this week's reading. Like
the Mill assignment, I would number each paragraph before beginning to read.
At the end of this page are this week's homework questions. These
questions will help focus your attention on the dialectic (see your
notes to remind yourself what this means; you can also look it up in the dictionary).
Before you begin, take a moment and think what it would be like to a prisoner
in Plato's cave. You turn around and notice that all your beliefs are
just the product of your circumstance. Does it scare you? Or
are you excited? Would you want to know the truth beyond the tunnel?
This story is one man's journey from cave, to the tunnel and the world
beyond. Are you ready to share his journey?
Do not read the Fifth Meditation!
Reading Guide.
P1. Notice how similar this experience is to the man who has just
been released from his chains in Plato's cave.
P2. Descartes' broad strategy for his search of truth.
P3. His first casualty, so to speak, of the battle to rid his mind
of untruth.
P4. Not so fast! We are introduced to the dialectic (notice
both "Yet" and "although" here signal the introduction of the dialectic;
circle them). He has reasons to doubt what he claimed in P3. Ask
yourself, doesn't this make sense? But then, he counters this claim
by introducing the madman argument. What word signaled this transition?
Circle it. Finally, to make the dialectic more convoluting, he
finishes the paragraph by rejecting the madman argument. What word
signaled this counter-argument?
P5. An important paragraph. This paragraph introduces a new
(the second) reason to doubt the senses (P3). Ask youself, has this
ever happened to you? This paragraph demonstrates how deep Descartes'
dialectic runs. There are two transitions in the dialectic; i.e. there
is a position; then an argument against the position; and finally a counterargument
against the argument against the position (got all that?).
P6-P8. Read, but read lightly.
P9-P10. A third argument for the claim found in P3. Again,
of course, a dialectic is introduced.
P11. Not important, but still read through.
P12. The fourth, and most important, reason for P3 is explained.
Read several times.
Meditation 2.
P13. Have you ever had a similar experience? Have you ever
had deep and serious doubts about someone you use to trust? Or a troubling
experience that casts doubt on what you use to believe? On a different
note: at the end of the paragraph, identify his major goal.
P14-P15. The most important paragraphs of the essay. Read twice/three
times.
P16. What role does this paragraph play? Evidence, conclusion,
clarification/background?
P17-P18. Lots of dialectic. They all follow this pattern: a
proposal is introduced, then an argument against it.
P19. Skip.
P20-P21. The resolution of the question introduced in P16.
Homework Questions. Answer all questions from Descartes' point
of view.
#1 What reason do we have to think that we are not madmen? Use
one sentence.
#2. What are the keywords that signal the dialectical transitions
in P5? Hint: the first transition has one keyword, the second has two
keywords.
#3 What reason do we have to think that God is not deceiving us?
One sentence.
#4. What is the one truth Descartes discovers and explain how he
knows this to be true. One short paragraph.
#5. Who am 'I' according to Descartes? One short paragraph.
