Mediations Deja Vu Robert Dotto

I was just wondering as to what Descartes' ideas of Deja Vu would be? He says that if something exists in dreams it must in real life as well. But what about those rare cases when a completely random event happens and you saw it happen, days, weeks, months, or even years before it takes place. Many times these events are so random that there is no way someone could predict them. For example I remember in 5th grade I dreamt a girl i never talked to in school would give me 10 cents in the middle of class. Three weeks later that girl sat next to me in class, took out her purse and gave me a dime with no explanation for her generosity. Descartes didn't mention anything about Deja Vu but it would be interesting to see what his opinion would have been. Personally I think that he would say Deja Vu is a complex construction/guessing game that the brain creates through real life experiences.

I think that the mind is constantly trying to guess the future in order to keep you a step ahead. Certain things like walking, or moving out of the way of a car are so hard-wired into us that we don't realize our brains predicting future/oncoming events. While we dream, I think that our brains try to evaluate the days events and past experiences and attempts to create a vision of the future. Sometimes we remember these constructions and they come true, making us aware of our brain's attempt, which produces Deja Vu. Other times we remember those dreams subconsciously and when they come true in real life, we get a less intense feeling of Deja Vu. Finally, since our brain makes so many of these constructions, and we tend to forget our dreams, those that dont come true and those that we forget, are evetually lost and never become known to us.

Let's hear what you guys think regarding Deja Vu as it relates to the dream vs. reality theory of Descartes.

Descartes Meditiations 1 God Robert Dotto

Yet again Descartes brings up God only to be broad and contradictive. First he says he is unsure if God is trustworthy, and then later he says that God is good. It seems quite possible that Descartes feared persecution by the church for his nonconfromist ideas and decided to throw in a compliment to the "guy upstairs" in order to cover himself. How can you question someone's integrity, and trustoworthiness, yet say he is a good guy? I suppose you can, but in a "logical path to finding true knowledge" like he set out to do, it doesn't seem to add up.

Descartes Meditations 1 Robert Dotto

In Meditations 1 Descartes describes his thoughts on dreams as they pertain to reality. He claims that dreams are based on reality and if something exists in your dream it must exist in real life as well. Logically this theory appears to make sense but just as misleading as a dream can be, it is not always true. Personally I've had dreams of places, people, and events that I have have never seen anything in real life that even comes close to resembling them. I would agree that while most of the things in our dreams are complex combinations of simpler things we experience in real life, but I think that there is something much, much deeper than that in dreaming.

The afterlife and cogito connection Dotto

The cogito argument got me to thinking about matters concerning the afterlife. If the mind is truly metaphysically independent of the body then would that mean our mind is also our soul? or does our mind just die with our bodies?

Tiny loop hole in Discourse 3? Dotto

Descartes said that after he traveled around the world he retired and kept to himself in order to fully evaluate his thoughts regarding the pursuit of knowledge. If he were to do this, we would only see the finished product and not all of the ideas that went through his head. The Discourse is written in a stream of consciousness, but that seems odd due to the fact that he retired in order to more fully evaluate his findings. Wouldn't you think that he would have laid out his writing simpler if he intended it to be read by the general public? If he actually did write word for word like it appears in the translated version, could this have been a rough draft in which Descartes wrote down in order to preserve his ideas but never was able to construct his final draft?

Many aspects of his writings seem to imply that he didn't intend for most people to see it which leads me to believe that there may be some falsehoods in his book. The style he wrote in is very reader-unfriendly (stream of consciousness with many loops), his probable fear of persecution by the church for his ideas, and his involvement with numerous fields outside of philosophy(mathematics, geometry, calculus, anatomy/medicine) could add up to an unfinished or rushed version because his mind was all over the place.


It's extremely possible that I'm wrong, I'm just trying to think outside the box and question what most people would accept as truth. Please share what you think..

Philosophy lecture on South Park!- Robert Dotto

Came across a series of videos on Youtube in which a college professor is talking with a bunch of college students about South Park. It's more about their opinions on monitoring and censorship than relating South Park to Descartes or Locke, but it is still pretty interesting. South Park is a pretty deep show if you look at the underlying messages, topics, and concepts and is a very funny satirical spin on things. There are 8 or 9 installments but I posted the link to the first one below and I will update my findings when I get the chance to watch and evaluate the rest of them.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nc4IIeoVBnU&feature=related

Robert Dotto's Evaluation of Descartes 3

As Professor Thompson taught us, the main purpose of Philosophy can be summed up in one question. That question is "What is the author saying and is he right?" I summed up what Descartes was saying in my first post (descartes discourse 3) and in this post I would like to agree with Descarte's ideas and verify that he was right. If you were to follow the 4 maxims he outlined you would have a lot less stress than most people do.

Maxim 1: For the most part, laws and regulations are set in place in order to protect citizens. So, if you are breaking a law there is a good chance that you have a lot of stress in your life because you are invovled with illegal businesses, drugs, etc. Thus, staying within the limits of the law SHOULD help to reduce stress.

Maxim 2: Making a decision and sticking with it usually results in a better outcome than second guessing yourself, overanalyzing, and making a bad decision. Thus, following your gut feeling should reduce stress because you will have fewer regrets and more confidence in your decision making skills.

Maxim 3: Setting out to change the world is sure to be filled with stress and hostility. Take global warming for example. Environmentalists try to do their part in the world by getting a fuel-efficient car, car pooling, installing home-solar panels, and recycling and then get sit in traffic with full size SUV's with one person in them. If you try to convince people to change their lifestyle you are sure to be met with anger and closed minds. Descartes would say that by being a role model for your cause you have a better chance of getting something that you want to do. Again, a lot less stressful.

Maxim 4: By getting a rewarding career, you can cultivate self-esteem and confidence, especially if you provide a valuable service to others. Many people get stuck in a career that they hate and that stress finds its way into every other aspect of their lives. In his travels Descartes found that having a good career can be very rewarding and essential to a fulfilling life. He mentioned nothing about money, but seemed to imply that money does not equal happiness.

After a critical analysis and evaluation of Descartes and his methods I would have to say that he was absolutely correct in his findings.

Robert Dotto Discourse 3 Descartes

Our group was assigned the third discourse of Rene Decartes' Discourse on Method. After reading and analyzing the section we found that Descartes outlined 4 maxims(moral codes) of life.The four moral codes/maxims are as follows:
1. Comply with rules,laws, and guidelines of society, country, and religion, but never take an extreme opinion that is irrational.
2. Make a decision and stick with it. Avoid and ignore any and all doubts that you may have. 9/10 times when you go against your original gut feeling, you were right the first time and your reasoning mislead you to an incorrect answer.
3. Focus on smaller issues that you can actually change and control. Descartes recommended to change yourself first. In order to be a beacon of light for the world, you have to change yourself and fully comply with what you're preaching.
4. Think about every career option you have, evaluate them, and then pick the one that is best suited for you. It appears that Descartes knew that some people rushed into careers and weren't happy when they got stuck doing a job that they could not stand.

He goes on to say that a career consisting of reasoning and truth is the best that one can get.After making these points he goes on to say that he traveled around for the next 9 years critically testing and analyzing his proposed methods. After that, he retired in a city where people were too busy and self-involved to bother him so he was able to like a life of solidarity and ponder his thoughts completely undisturbed.