17th & 18th Century Philosophers: From Pascal to Berkeley
17th & 18th Century Philosophers
Pascal (17th Century)
Influenced by Descartes, but presents an anti-Cartesian perspective.
Maintains the mathematical ideal and trusts human reason, but realizes that rationality is not enough to reach the truth.
Two Types of Spirits:
- Geometric Spirit (Linked to rationality)
- Spirit of Finesse (Related to feelings)
Pascal, a cordialist author, believed that “The heart has reasons that reason does not know.” This means feelings can grasp nuances that reasoning cannot.
Through feelings, one can see the true vision of humanity.
Humanity is a mixture, a whole when compared to nothingness.
The existence of God is indemonstrable rationally but can be understood through feelings.
Spinoza (17th Century)
A Cartesian rationalist author with influences, but also reactions to some Cartesian aspects.
Takes the geometrical ideal to an extreme, even in ethics, as seen in his work “Ethics Geometrically Demonstrated.”
Points of Disagreement with Descartes:
- Spinoza criticizes the concept of substances, arguing that what we call a substance does not meet the definition.
- It is difficult to perceive separate substances, as any being is related to the entire universe.
- There is only one substance: God is nature and nature is God (pantheism – everything comes from God).
- Matter and spirit are attributes of a single substance. This leads to the problem of the relationship between attributes and the concept of parallelism between body and spirit (psychophysical parallelism).
Ethics of Spinoza:
Focuses on human happiness and the pursuit of human purposes.
Presents a theory related to destiny, where happiness lies in knowing this destiny.
Argues for the illusion of human freedom, stemming from ignorance of the causes and factors that lead us to act in one way or another.
Leibniz
Theory of Knowledge:
Accepts the importance of the senses but also believes that the mind requires certain innate ideas (similar to Kant).
The existence of innate elements reflects God’s moral orderliness.
Two Kinds of Truth:
- Truths of Reason (absolute): Based on logical consistency of the world, formal sciences, and analytical truth (e.g., a triangle has 3 sides). These truths are derived from thinking and the principle of non-contradiction.
- Truths of Fact (contingent): Based on the world of things, empirical sciences, and synthetic truths (e.g., nothing happens without a reason). These truths are derived from experience.
The Monads:
Monads are units of energy that exist beneath the pure extension of matter.
- They are pure energy.
- They are indivisible and independent of other monads.
- They are the elements that constitute reality.
Leibniz criticizes Descartes’ metaphysics as being too static.
Pre-established Harmony:
God created and endowed the monads with activity.
Monads are inherently active and independent.
How are coincidences explained?
- God created the monads and harmonized them.
- God acts as a clockmaker, synchronizing the monads to achieve harmony.
- The body does everything that God has planned, including mental actions.
- Body and mind are like two synchronized clocks, with no direct influence on each other.
This also explains everything that happens in the world.
Problem of Evil:
If God planned everything in advance, then God must have planned evil as well.
Solution: Different Types of Evil:
- Metaphysical Evil: Limitations inherent in all reality other than God (absence of divine perfection).
- Physical Evil (poverty, diseases, etc.): Lack of positive attributes.
- Moral Evil (Sin): Stems from human freedom.
Why did God choose to create a world where such imperfection occurs?
Leibniz argues that this world is the best of all possible worlds.
We could imagine a world without evil, where everyone only does good. But in such a world, we would be like automata. Because humans are free to choose between different actions, evil is a consequence of human liberty.
Evil is an absence of good, not a direct choice.
Hobbes
The Social Contract:
Power does not have a divine origin but comes from the desires of humanity.
Human beings are essentially equal in possessing similar possibilities (but not necessarily equal in capabilities).
Human beings are selfish by nature, and the world would be a powerless hell without a social contract.
Process for Reaching Agreement:
- The State of Nature: The situation before humans coexist in society. There is no law or right, only pure selfishness and constant danger. This situation prevents any evolution, and humans want to escape it.
- The Pact: Humans renounce their absolute freedom to enjoy a more secure life, transferring power to a third party. This allows humans to leave the state of nature and enter into a social contract.
- The State or Leviathan: The pact creates the state, which holds all sovereign power (its power is absolute). However, if the sovereign becomes unsuitable, the subjects may overthrow them.
Locke
Origin of Our Ideas:
Understanding the origin of ideas is essential for investigating the possibilities of knowledge.
Ideas are the result of experience, observation, and study. There are no innate ideas (Tabula Rasa).
Kinds of Ideas:
- Simple Ideas: Cannot be broken down further and come from experience, either through sensation (internal) or reflection (external).
- Complex Ideas: Combinations that the mind creates from simple ideas, derived from understanding.
The Idea of Substance:
Substance is a complex idea, a product of the mind combining simple ideas through understanding.
Locke believes that the idea of substance is not solely based on sensations.
He believes that substance can be conceived as the underlying support of an idea (e.g., thinking of the feeling of acidity and immediately associating it with another idea, like a lemon, to describe it).
Substance, as a substrate, remains unknowable and incomprehensible.
We cannot have direct experience of substance, but we cannot reject its existence. We believe in the existence of realities that are inferred from our experiences (e.g., everyone perceives a rose in the same way).
Berkeley
The Rejection of Materialism:
Berkeley rejects materialism, arguing that there is no material reality (it is only a set of ideas).
Based on empiricist ideas, he arrives at non-materialist conclusions.
Berkeley’s philosophy leans towards deism, as he could not conceive of a God who necessarily and continuously intervenes in creation.
Drawing from Locke’s ideas, Berkeley argues that we can only be certain of our ideas or perceptions (everything beyond what we perceive is doubtful).
Perceptions are entirely subjective, belonging to the knower and not necessarily reflecting qualities of an external reality independent of the mind.
We can only affirm the existence of mental contents (ideas) and a spiritual subject (mind) that holds them.
How can we explain the consistency of our perceptions of an object? Berkeley argues that God (as the cause of our ideas) is responsible for order and regularity.