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Tag Archives: tabula rasa

Thoughts on Descartes & the Latest Events

07 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in Extremism, Philosophy, Rationalism, Terrorism

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Descartes, Immanuel Kant, mental content, Pascal, reason, tabula rasa, The Discourse on Method, The Middle East

DP234080

Black Stork in a Landscape, ca. 1780 India, probably Lucknow, Colonial British Watercolor on European paper (Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY)

The Tabula rasa: a Rupture

I mentioned René Descartes‘ (15 February 1564 — 8 January 1642) concept of tabula rasa (Discours de la méthode)[1] in a post entitled “There are limits,” says Pope Francis (19 Jan 2015). If I may, I will return to this subject and point to one of history’s most significant ruptures with mental content: Descartes’ tabula rasa. In order to seek truth in the sciences, Descartes cleared the table. He needed a clean slate, proceeded methodically —Descartes uses four steps— guided by reason.  In other words, Descartes discarded all that he had learned since birth. The tabula rasa, is the clearing (se raser means to shave) of the table (tabula).

Descartes was a polymath and therefore combined several intellectual abilities, from philosophy to science. However, he defined himself as a scientist, un géomètre, and did so from the moment he wrote his first work, his Regulæ ad directionem ingenii, (the rules for conducting one’s reason; 1628), written in Latin.

Le Discours de la méthode
Le Discours de la méthode
The Discourse on Method
The Discourse on Method

 The Discourse on Method (1637)

In the Discourse, Descartes finds it unavoidable to rid his mind of all knowledge acquired since birth, as this knowledge is not necessarily based on reason, but “desires and our preceptors.”

“And because we have all to pass through a state of infancy to manhood, and have been of necessity, for a length of time, governed by our desires and our preceptors (whose dictates were frequently, while neither perhaps counselled us for best), I farther concluded that it is almost impossible that our judgments can be so correct as they would have been, had our reason been mature from the moment of birth, and had always been guided by it [reason] alone.” (Discourse, p. 10)

Consequently, among Descartes’ personal four rules in seeking the truth,

“[t]he first was never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such that is to say, carefully to avoid precipitancy and prejudice, and to comprise nothing more in my judgment than was presented to my mind so clearly and distinctly as to exclude all ground of doubt.” (Discourse, p. 15)

However, Descartes knew that clearing off the table and marching ahead was dangerous. Galileo (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) had been found guilty of heresy in 1633. Galileo supported Copernicus‘ heliocentrism (the sun is at the centre of the universe) and had determined that the planet earth moved. He had to abjure his findings and was placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life: 9 years.

Similarly, if Descartes’ quest for the truth in the sciences was to be guided by reason alone, it could lead to observations that might contradict the teachings of the Church, which meant that he too could be tried and found guilty of heresy.

Raif Badawi was condemned to a harsh sentence, possibly death, for asking that liberals in Saudi Arabia be tolerated.

At any rate, the Discourse on Method was not written in France.

“I was in Germany, attracted thither by the wars in that country which have not yet been brought to a termination; and as I was returning to the army from the coronation of the emperor, the setting in of winter arrested me, and was besides fortunately undisturbed by my care or passions, I remained the whole day in seclusion¹ with full opportunity to occupy my attention with my own thoughts.”
¹ literally in a room heated by means of a stove.—Tr. (p. 10)

In fact, Descartes (adjectival form: Cartesian) spent most of his life in the more tolerant Dutch Republic.

Mental Content

The tabula rasa could be considered a conscious removal of knowledge acquired since birth. Descartes could do this. But his rationalism was critiqued and criticized. As Pascal (19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) wrote, there are two entrances to the soul, l’esprit de finesse and l’esprit de géométrie, which I will translate as instinct and “pure reason,” a term I am borrowing from Immanuel Kant‘s Critique of Pure Reason(1781). Kant critiqued Descartes. Descartes, however can at least be credited with setting about his research using an uncluttered mind.

One cannot expect a tabula rasa on the part of persons whose thinking is rigid: extremists, fundamentalists, terrorists, racists, etc.

There is nothing reasonable about the burning alive of an innocent Jordanian pilot, locked in a cage. There is nothing reasonable in the pain he was subjected to. Nor is there anything reasonable in filming the dreadful event for a father to view and die a thousand times.

I pity the converts who have flocked to the Middle East only to watch the raping and killing of children, serial cold-blooded beheadings and the burning alive of captured Jordanian Lieutenant Muath al-Kasasbeh. In the 21st century, no faith should allow depravity incarnate, and this is depravity incarnate.

I have already quoted King Abdullah II:

“King Abdullah of Jordan described ISIS today [5 February 2015] as a ‘criminal and misguided group which is not related in any shape or form to our great faith.’” (Daily Mail, UK)

As for Safi al-Kasasbeh, Muath al-Kasasbeh’s father, he is asking for revenge.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/father-of-burned-jordan-pilot-muath-alkasasbeh-demands-revenge-20150205-136fmg.html

We can all understand, but revenge has its price…

The Muslim world has just had its 9/11. So has Japan. 

Francisco Goya

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, Francisco Goya (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Raif Badawi

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi is again before a court. I believe there’s hope for Mr Badawi. He has not been flogged since King Salman ascended to the throne. King Salman is an absolute monarch. He may pardon Mr Badawi. However, ideally, a court should find Raif Badawi innocent.

Saudis are attached to their customs, customs Europeans and other people may look upon as barbaric, but…  In view of the burning alive of a Jordanian pilot and the grief of his father and family, the people of the Middle East may feel more divided on the subject of torture, but I am speculating. All we know is that ISIS crossed the line, and that the conflict has taken on new dimensions.

Human Rights

Freedom of speech is a Human Right according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[2]

Moreover, flogging Raif Badawi is torture and, therefore, a second infringement of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Flogging can kill and it has.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/02/what-actually-happens-when-you-get-flogged-death

At the moment, however, humanity is in violation of several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Conclusion

We have a better self both as individuals, i.e. individually, and as nations, collectively. At the individual level, it’s called the soul, the conscience, compassion… That has been trampled upon. At the collective level, our better self has at times been called “justice.” Justice? That has also been trampled on and it varies from country to country:

Vérité en deçà des Pyrénées, erreur au-delà.
Truth on this side of the Pyrenees, error beyond.
Pensées, Blaise Pascal (posthumous)

My dear mother once remarked that I was fortunate to work in a morally superior institution: a university. I told her the truth. Universities are human institutions and, therefore, they are at times very difficult milieus. My universities have asked me to do what they have also prevented me from doing.

And if King Salman does not release Raif Badawi, love has died. Or is reason faltering?

I apologize for recycling images.

I hope this was my last post on this subject and wish all of you a good weekend.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Thoughts on Descartes & the Latest Events (7 January 2015)
  • Muath al-Kasasbeh burned alive: fathers grieve (4 February 2015)
  • Comments on Racism (2 February 2015) (mental content)
  • President Obama in Saudi Arabia (29 January 2015)
  • An Incident in Quebec: Raif Badawi (25 January 2015)
  • An Appeal to King Salman of Saudi Arabia (23 January 2015)
  • On Freedom of Speech: from Pope Francis to Raif Badawi (21 January 2015)
  • “There are limits,” says Pope Francis (19 January 2015)
  • Raif Badawi: Flogging Postponed (16 January 2015)
  • “Je suis Raif:” an Appeal to King Abdullah (14 January 2015)
  • Paris Besieged: an “Assault on Reason” (12 January 2015)

Sources and Resources

  • Descartes’ Œuvres complètes, Le Discours de la méthode is the Gutenberg Project [EBook #13846] (V. Cousin; 1824 – 1826) (FR)
  • Descartes Discourse on Method is an Internet Archive publication (EN)
  • Pascal’s Pensées is the Gutenberg Project [EBook #18269] (EN)
  • Pascal’s Pensées is an Internet Archive publication (Édition princeps des Pensées, publiée en 1669 – 1670 par MM. de Port-Royal.) (FR)

Photo credit: Internet Archives (Descartes)

_________________________

[1] René Descartes, André Bridoux (ed), Œuvres complètes (Éditions Gallimard, Collection de la Pléiade, 1953). (my copy)

[2] The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights /Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme (UDHR) was adopted on 10 December 1948 and ratified on 16 December 1949.

Maher Zain – Number One For Me | Official Music Video

Ensaf Haidar

Ensaf Haidar, Raif Badawi’s Wife

© Micheline Walker
7 February 2015
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The Human Mind: Ideas

17 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by michelinewalker in Sharing

≈ Comments Off on The Human Mind: Ideas

Tags

creativity, Descartes, invention, Marcus Aurelius, Pascal, Steve Jobs, tabula rasa

In my last post, I quoted Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (26 April 121 – 17 March 180 CE) concerning the manner in which a text can take a life of its own.  But I have since thought that the quotation I used might be one of many ways to depict the process of discovery.  If a text takes a life of its own and will not remain inside your plan, this is perhaps what happens to discoverers, persons who, like Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011), can change the world forever, as did the ‘ideas’ of other scientists.

Only a little while, and Nature, the universal disposer, will change everything you see, and out of their substance will make fresh things [ideas], and yet again others [ideas] from theirs, to the perpetual renewing of the world’s youthfullness.

No wonder Steve Jobs left college to start working on “inventions.”  His thinking had led to unexpected ‘ideas’ that could lead to inventions.  What happened to Steve Jobs may have happened or may happen to other creative minds.  He had an ‘idea’ and he used it to create extraordinary inventions and products.

In his Reflections on Geometry in General: On the Geometrical Mind and on the Art of Persuading, section II  De l’Esprit géométrique et de l’art de persuader, section II (1657-1658), Blaise Pascal (June 19, 1623 – August 19, 1662), states that there are two entrances to the soul, “deux entrées par où les opinions sont reçues dans l’âme.”  These two entrances are reason, or l’esprit de géométrie, and instinct, or l’esprit de finesse.  Now instinct could be the element which, in a brilliant mind, leads to the ‘idea’ that leads to the invention.  Steve Jobs produced the first user-friendly personal computer: the Macintosh.

Pascal’s father was a tax-farmer (tax collector) and spent a lot of time counting.  So his son had an ‘idea’ that led to the invention of a mechanical calculator he called the pascaline.  As well, Blaise was the first person to come up with the idea of public transportation.  Public transportation was the carrosses à cinq sols, the short-lived five-penny carriages.

So I believe that when Pascal insisted that reason, esprit de géométrie, alone was an inadequate investigative tool without the support of instinct, or esprit de finesse, he may have added a precious dimension to the scientific method devised by Descartes, and that element would be intuition, or finesse, or instinct, or the above-mentioned  ‘idea.’  The ‘idea’ would be the fountainhead of creation and invention, including practical inventions. We use Steve Jobs’s gadgets.

In no way do I intend to marginalize Descartes’s essential contribution to science, the formulation of the scientific method.  On the contrary!  Until René Descartes (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650), experiments were not conducted methodically and scientists had to work within the Catholic Church’s narrow view of the world and, particularly, the Catholic Church’s view of the cosmos. Before undertaking a scientific investigation, Descartes took everything off the table (tabula rasa), but he left aside any mention of the ‘idea,’ seminal  ‘ideas.’

However, in the second century, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, wrote about “fresh things” leading to other “things.”  At first, the creative or inventive mind may be thinking within the box, but there comes a point when thoughts, an ‘idea,’ takes the investigative mind well outside the box.

Pascal always combines instinct and reason (Thoughts, 112-344).  For Pascal, the human mind was divided into instinct and reason.  There is constant symmetry.  Instinct may well be the ‘idea,’ or ‘ideas,’ leading to a “perpetual renewing of the world’s youthfullness.”

So let this be my tribute to the human mind and, particularly, to the mind of Steve Jobs.

* * *

October 16, 2011

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