Midterm Exam Study Questions

Descartes & Hume

1. What argument does Descartes give for skepticism about the
senses?
The Dream Argument. Our dreams are so real to us that while dreaming, we
are unable to discern the dream from reality itself. Therefore, we can never
be sure that we are not dreaming, and because our dreams are not reliable
perceptions of reality, we can never be sure of what we think we perceive.
2. What argument does Descartes give for skepticism about reason?
The Evil Genius Argument. An unknown omnipotent deity could have absolute
control over us, who, with an evil agenda, forces us to rationally believe
things that are actually false.
3. According to Descartes, what is the one thing that cannot be
doubted? Explain why Descartes thinks we can't be skeptical about
this.
I think, therefore I am a thinking thing. The act of thinking itself cannot be
doubted because thinking about it is thinking itself (it would be a paradox to
think that youre not thinking). He does not claim certainty of what we are
thinking of, only that we are indeed thinking.
4. Explain Hume's view that all our knowledge originates in
impressions (the copy principle).
Knowledge (ideas) originates from impressions because we have no basis
upon which to create ideas without prior experience with impressions. For
example, we can think of a unicorn by combining the ideas of a horse and a
horn, but if we had never had the sensory impression of either of those
things, we wouldnt be able to form an idea based on them. (Sec. 1 and 2)
5. According to Hume, what are the three ways we can relate ideas to
each other?
Three Principles of Association (Resemblance, Contiguity, Cause/Effect):
Resemblance is one idea reminding you of another idea based on a close
relationship in your brain (e.g. seeing someone and mistaking them as
someone you know, and then thinking about the person you know).
Contiguity is linking ideas based on their closeness to one another (e.g.
thinking of a lake, then thinking of a cottage on that lake, and then thinking
of a weekend you spent in that cottage on the lake). Finally, Cause and Effect
are used to explain why something happens: if every time you drop a glass it
breaks, after repeated experiences, youll draw the conclusion that dropping
the glass is what caused it to break.
6. What are the three types of skepticism Hume discusses in the
Enquiry? Define them.
7. Why does Hume think Cartesian skepticism slides into Pyrrhonian?

Cartesian tries to give a reason to find a foundation in human faculties,

whereas Pyrrhonian skepticism tries to undermine any possibility of deriving
knowledge from our senses; Hume thinks these are highly similar because he
thinks that Descartes is not successful in saying that I think therefore I am.
He does not disagree with the principle, but rather, the everything that is
inferred from it.
8. What is one of the arguments for skepticism that Hume endorses?
Explain why Hume thinks it's a good argument.
9. Extra credit: Explain why Hume and Descartes disagree about ideas
like God, the soul, and infinity. Why does Descartes think these ideas
are well-founded, while Hume thinks they're worthy of skepticism?
Descartes says that because we can have knowledge of infinity and
perfection, we must have been created by a perfect, infinite being. Hume (as
above) doesnt agree that actual proof is given here.