Ideal theory

• Everything in the mind is impressions & ideas - Hume
• Hume's skepticism is a natural result of this ^ idea.
• Ideal theory thinks that when something external is perceived, an image is passively formed in the mind.
• Reid denies that any images exist in the mind; rather, the mind is active in seeing
  • (demonstrated by experiments using optics where the brain is shown to be processing )
• believed by DescartesDescartes
  Rene Descartes
  
  Background Info
  
  1596-1650
  educated at Univ of Paris
  Catholic Christian
  not an academic
  
  
  
  
  wrote Descartes, Meditations of First Philosophy from a [[Rationalism
  rationalistic]] perspective
  
  
  
  
  claims he is making a whole new start in philosophy
  D. arrived at a certain and evident knowledge of the truth. He wants to see if he can persuade others by the same method that he himself used.
  ..., LockeLocke
  John Locke
  
  Locke, Two Treatises of Government
  
  
  
  
  [[MOC - Modern Philosophers#Hobbes vs Locke
  Comparison w/ Hobbes]]
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Locke, Two Treatises of Government
  
  Background Info
  
  1632-1704
  Parents were Puritans
  father was in Parliamentary cavalry, which fought king during English Civil WarEnglish Civil War
  English Civil War
  
  Foundation
  
  Reformation on the Continent
  
  Luther & his 95 theses
  assumptions/positions (that were subversive to English monarchy, per Hobbes)
  
  Private men are judges of good & evil
  It is a sin to do something against one's private conscience
  Man's private conscience may be supernaturally inspired
  The sovereign may be limited or divided
  
  
  
  
  Reformation in England (Anglicanism)
  ...
  educated @ Oxford
  Taught Greek & Hebrew
  Went to medical school, was a doctor
  Empirics
  Read DescartesDescartes
  Rene Descartes
  
  Background Info
  
  1596-1650
  educated at Univ of Paris
  Catholic Christian
  not an academic
  
  
  
  
  wrote Descartes, Meditations of First Philosophy from a [[Rationalism
  rationalistic]] perspective
  
  
  
  
  claims he is making a whole new start in philosophy
  D. arrived at a certain and evident knowledge of the truth. He wants to see if he can persuade others by the same method that he himself used.
  ...
  Had a g..., and HumeHume
  David Hume
  
  Wrote Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
  Wrote a History of England
  
  Bkgrd Info
  
  1711-1776
  Scottish
  studied law at 15, did not like it
  self-taught in philosophy
  published "Treatise of Human Understanding" at age 28
  
  thought it would make him a rock star like Newton.
  received little attention
  ReidReid
  Thomas Reid
  Reid, Inquiry & Essays
  
  Bkgrd info (copied fr. Kate)
  
  important figure in the Scottish Enlightenment (18th century)
  Presbyterian Minister
  age 16, MA from University of Aberdeen
  age 21, licensed preacher for Church of Scotland
  age 27, entered Ministry
  age 54, wrote Inquiry into the Human Mind
  he was called to the University of Glasgow to replace Adam Smith as Professor of Moral Philosophy
  Common sense = “The most important use of the term “common sense” in R... & KantKant
  Kant
  Wrote Kant, What is Enlightenment?
  Man's primary problem isn't sin; it's that he doesn't have the freedom to reason & be enlightened (??)
  
  Background
  
  came from Prussia, wrote under Frederick the Great
  Kant - a rationalist who wants to confine reason to the bounds of experience
  
  reason is bound by the condition of possible experience; cannot reason about unexperienced things
  so, we can't reason a/b God crating the world because we didn't experience it
  
  
  ... were the only philosophers who took him seriously
  
  
  
  
  His Philosophy
  What was in the air
  
  the rationalism and dedu... (of course)
• the only primary quality is extension & motion
  • everything else is a secondary quality