PHIL 1015 Weekly Assignment #7

Please only refer to the provided document.Part I From Outward Doubt to Inward Certainty (5 points)

Length: about 2 full pages

In Meditations III, Descartes adopts the Method of Doubt. Using only the Dream Doubt (we are not considering the Evil Genius), he argues that knowledge gained through the senses cannot be certain.

Your task is to reconstruct, step by step, how Descartes establishes an epistemic asymmetry between looking outward and looking inward.

Write this section as a numbered sequence of at least 8 steps.

Each step should be 24 sentences and must clearly advance the reasoning.

Your reconstruction must include:

• The rule Descartes adopts in the Method of Doubt and why
• Why sensory knowledge initially appears to give us knowledge of reality
• The Dream Doubt and what it undermines
• Why the Dream Doubt threatens all outward, sensory knowledge
• Why the body is therefore placed into doubt
• Why the Cogito (I think, I exist) survives the Dream Doubt
• Why this certainty is achieved by looking inward rather than outward
• The epistemic conclusion: inward reflection yields certainty; outward investigation does not

This section must clearly show how Descartes establishes the contrast between outward and inward knowledge.

Part II The Metaphysical Inference and the Individuation Challenge (5 points)

Length: 23 pages

From Part I, Descartes arrives at an important asymmetry:

• The body can be doubted.
• The thinking self cannot be doubted.

He then makes a further inference:

If I can doubt my body but cannot doubt myself as a thinking thing, then I am not identical to my body.

Section A The Identity Argument

First, reconstruct this move clearly.

You must:

• State the identity principle being used (if A = B, they must share all the same properties)
• Explain how doubtability functions in the argument
• Show why Descartes concludes that the self is not identical to the body
• Explain why he takes this to imply that the self is something non-physical

This is the first challenge:

Does an epistemic difference (what can be doubted) justify a metaphysical conclusion (what the self is)?

Section B The Individuation Challenge

Now suppose Descartes is correct.

Suppose the self is an immaterial soul.

The question becomes:

Is this identification illuminating?

We clearly have a way to individuate biological bodies:

• Each organism originates as a specific zygote
• That zygote comes from specific gametes
• Identity is tied to biological origin and developmental continuity
• Distinctness between individuals is grounded in lineage

So we possess a clear criterion of individuation for bodies.

Now address the following challenge:

If the self is an immaterial soul, provide a comparable means of individuating individual souls.

You must address:

• What makes my soul distinct from someone elses?
• What grounds its numerical identity?
• What explains its persistence over time?
• Does it have an origin? If so, what kind?
• If not, how is distinctness secured?

If you believe such criteria can be provided, articulate them clearly.

If you believe they cannot be provided, explain what follows.

This is the second challenge:

An identity claim illuminates only if we possess independent criteria for identifying the kind of thing in question.