René Descartes Essay

Philosophy begins as an art of wondering. This art of wondering, leads man into asking a number of questions about himself and the world around him. Variations in philosophical thoughts as result questions posed by man, help in modification of philosophy. The purpose of this essay therefore, is to do a comparative analysis of Sophies World by Josteen Gaarder with three philosophical texts George Berkeleys Treatise on Human Knowledge, John Lockes Essay on Human Understanding and Rene Descartes Passions of the Soul.We shall also show the roles of authors and texts in Philosophy. TREATISE ON HUMAN KNOWLEDGE VERSUS SOPHIES population One of the outstanding efforts of Berkeley in this work was to show that the world exists as it does because of the ideas perceived by the mind of paragon and as such, existence of things depends on their perception through the senses. Likewise in Sophies World, Aristotle through his belief showed a similarity with Berkeleys stance in this text Treatise of Human Understanding. For Aristotle, highest degree of reality is what we perceive with our senses.Berkeley also said that existence is the state of being perceived by a perceiver, but on the contrary, Descartes in Sophies World believed that he exists because he thinks. It furthermore means that his existence depends on his ability to think. He used such words same(p) cogito ergo sum (latin) and je pense, donc je suis (French) all meaning I think therefore I am to illuminate his thesis on this. Plato while stressing the sovereignty of former in Sophies World said that the reason can only give us the true reality of things and as such contradicted the empiricist approach of Berkeley. try on ON HUMAN UNDERSTANDING VERSUS SOPHIES WORLD John Locke illuminated in this work that idea is derived from experience of sensation or reflection, just equivalent it reflected in Sophies World in which his fellow empiricists uniformwise stressed the inevitability of experience as the source of true knowledge. David Hume in particular naturalised that man has two types of perceptions, namely impressions and ideas. By impressions he means the external sensations of reality. By ideas he means the recollections of such impressions.Aristotle the trail blazer of empiricism, in conjunctive with the empiricists believed our reason to be completely empty until we have sensed something. John Locke in this book made an attempt to refute the notion of innate ideas by proving that it does not exist, whereas in Sophies World, philosopher like Plato believed in an innate idea, an external world of ideas outside of the natural world. Descartes even believed that the idea of God is innate. PASSIONS OF THE SOUL VERSUS SOPHIES WORLDDescartes defined passions of the soul as a mental state or thought that arises as a direct result of brain drill and such passions can move us to action. He also suggested that whizz needs to learn to control ones passions, for they can move one to perform v icious acts. Benedict Spinosa in Sophies World, suggested that we must free ourselves from our feelings and passions only then shall we find happiness. Conversely, also in Sophies World, the Epicureans through the teachings of Aristippus believed that the butt of life is to attain the highest possible pleasure or passions and by so doing, they contradict Descartes belief.AN EYE ON THE ROLES OF AUTHORS AND TEXTS IN PHILOSOPHY Authors in philosophy duck soup incredible roles in modification of philosophy through their texts. There various attempts to answer the underlying questions of nature and man have led to the developments of dialectical methods like thesis, antithesis and synthesis used in philosophy today. An eye on the three authors and philosophers Descartes, Berkeley and Locke whose works where compared with Sophies World above showed the vital role they played in philosophy.While Descartes was a rationalist, Berkeley and Locke were empiricists, but through their texts, th ey contributed in epistemology or theory of knowledge. CONCLUSION Having done these comparisons, we can see the successful deduction of similarities and differences between the Sophies World and three aforementioned philosophical texts. I attest that Sophies World is necessary philosophical paraphernalia needed by a fledgeling in Philosophy as seen from its versatility in the course of this comparison done, and also how it covered aspects of history of Philosophy in such a sublime manner.pope JOHN PAUL II MAJOR SEMINARY OKPUNO, AWKA NAME UMENABA BENJAMIN C COURSE INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY COURSE CODE PHIL 101 REG NO PJPS/NAU/013/O69 reader REV. FR DR. AUGUSTINE OBUROTA TOPICA COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SOPHIES WORLD WITH THREE PHILOSOPHY TEXTS WITH AN EYE ON ROLES OF AUTHORS AND TEXTS IN PHILOSOPHY DATE twenty-eighth NOVEMBER, 2012 OUTLINES INTRODUCTION TREATISE ON HUMAN KNOWLEDGE VERSUS SOPHIES WORLD ESSAY ON HUMAN UNDERSTANDING VERSUS SOPHIES WORLD PASSIONS OF THE SOUL VERSUS SOPH IES WORLD AN EYE ON THE ROLES OF AUTHORS AND TEXTS IN PHILOSOPHY CONCLUSION.