Read Descartes’ Meditations I & II (above). Then, write and submit responses to each of the following questions. Be sure that you are fulfilling the minimum word count for each question. Points will be deducted for short responses. Unlike other writing assignments in this class, you may enumerate your answers; you do not need to write an essay, but be thorough. If you are having a hard time meeting the word count for a question, you can build off of the question and tell me more, beyond the immediate scope of the question. Finally, do not simply look for answers online. First, you are responsible for submitting original, rather than plagiarized, work. Second, I want to see that you are thinking for yourself!

1. For Descartes, why can’t knowledge gained through sense experience be trusted as the basis of knowledge? (100 – 200 words)

2. How are the doubts raised by our experience of dreaming different from, and more profound than, doubts raised about errors in sense experience? (100 – 200 words)

3. How is the evil genius argument intended to be broader in scope than either the arguments about doubting sense experience or dreaming? (100 – 200 words)

4. Why can’t the evil genius deceive Descartes into thinking that he (Descartes) does not exist? (100 – 200 words)

5. What is the point of Descartes’ doubt about having a body? Why can’t a thing that thinks, an “I think” (cogito), be a body? What is a body? (100 – 200 words)

6. What is the point of the wax example? How is it important in knowing the self? (100 – 200 words)