Chapter 18, Descartes, Chapter 19, Spinoza Summary

The pace of the lectures increases, as if Alberto feels he is on a tight schedule. Next he talks about the philosopher, Descartes. Descartes lives mostly in Paris and Holland. Descartes' system is related to the new physics of his time, in that Descartes has a mechanistic world view. Descartes wants to start his philosophy as a clean break from the ancient Greeks such as Plato and Aristotle. Descartes' philosophy asks, how Man can trust his own senses, since maybe his whole life is a dream? Descartes thinks about what is evident to him, either from his reason or his senses. The existence of God is evident to Descartes, as well as his own existence. His famous quote is "I think, therefore I am," meaning that his own ability to think is evidence to Descartes of his...