Text: Meditations I, II, III, V and VI
Candidates should demonstrate an understanding of the following:
- the method of doubt and its purpose
- total deception. Absolute certainty of the cogito and its implications
- arguments for distinguishing mind and body: knowledge argument, appeal to God’s omnipotence and indivisibility
- essential natures of mind and body; Descartes’ rationalism, the wax example and its purposes
- clear and distinct ideas. Intellect and imagination and their respective roles
- the ‘proof’ of material things. The role of God and the ontological proof
- mind body independence and the intermingling thesis (pilot and ship).
Essay questions will focus on the following problem areas:
- certainty
- God
- mind and body
