Blog #2- Descartes

Blog #2- Descartes

1. I agree with Descartes' stance because it is true that everything should be measured or perceived through the senses for it to be named as true. Because if we beleived in every unsupproted idea we would be filled with things that are not true. However this should apply to everything that is material and belongs to the world, it does not mean that we should not have faith in a superior being like God because even though maybe He cannot be percieved through the senses it does not mean that we cannot have faith in him.

2. Natural Sciences: when it comes to natural sciences it is of extreme importance to support every single thing. We cannot assume the properties of a certain living or non living thing without having carefuly observed and proved these characteristics. Otherwise we would be filled with unreliable information about many aspects of the world. Another example would be thoeries. Every theory has to be based on reliable observation through the senses in order to be a valid theory. Theories should only be considered if they are supported by reliable information. Another example would be in medicine, a person could not be diagnosed or declared to have a disease without medical support or exams to back it up.

History: in history it is very important to support every occurence with actual documents, letters, diaries, pictures, fossils, declarations, constitutions, articles and other types of evidence of this kind. Because if not we would not be able to be sure what really happened in the past. Anythiong that cannot be proved by evidence or perception cannot be taken as a fact because there is nno way of asserting that it is true. Having occurences that are not backed up by evidence or perception may result in erroneous knowledge of our past.

3.
http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/coreofscience_01

4. This image supports my opinion of DEscartes' stance bacause it shows how in oreder to reach a conlusion, one should first go through the process of gathering evidence an observation and evidence through the senses, instead of just jumping to a conlusion. Like Descartes said that everything must be broken down into as many factors as possible, this is what occurs in the image. The leaf is broken down my being seen through the microscope, and its parts are observed carefully before develeping a a conclusion.