Class 21: Early Modern Metaphysics Dr. Ann T. Orlando 15 March 2019

Introduction Rationalists and Empiricists France in 17th C Descartes Pascal Metaphysics and Physics

Epistemology: How do we know? What is best method for coming to certain (or probable) knowledge? Can knowledge improve the human condition? What is relation (if any) of human knowledge to God and Revelation? In my opinion, Enlightenment answer is one of either presumption or despair We still living in the Age of the Enlightenment

17th C Philosophy ‘Paradigm’ shift in 17th C also led to search for ‘new’ philosophy Driven by changes in Politics Physics Religion Voyages of discovery Two different philosophical approaches: Rationalists Empiricist

Philosophical Developments During the 17th C Rationalist: Knowledge is from innate ideas (mathematicians) Rene Descartes (1596-1650) Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) Empiricists: Knowledge is (only) from senses (physicists) Francis Bacon (1561-1626) John Locke (1632-1704) Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

17th C Philosophy: Rationalists Rationalist: Knowledge is from ideas Rene Descartes (1596-1650) Mathematician and discoverer/inventor of analytic geometry and algebra “I think, therefore I am” Dualistic approach to mind and body Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) Mathematician and discoverer of many of laws of probability Member of Jansenists: heretical Catholic group that was very Augustinian Pascal’s Wager on the existence of God Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) Mathematician and co-discoverer of calculus Because God is all good, this must be the best of all possible worlds Complex metaphysics; many similarities to Stoicism Coined term theodicy

France: Intellectual Center in 17th C France most important country in Europe Victor in 30 Years War Most populous country University of Paris French Academy established in 1653 by Cardinal Richelieu to promote all things French Remains arbiter of ‘official’ French language French becomes the language of culture in 17th C Developing intellectual currents Libertine morals Skeptical epistemology

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) Born in France, but spent most of his life in protestant countries of Netherlands and Sweden Philosopher, mathematician, ‘theoretical’ physicists Discovered (invented) analytical geometry Marriage of algebra and geometry Claimed that mathematics not only described but represented (was) physical mechanisms Cosmos guided by universal mathematical laws The Meditations

The Meditations (1639) Written by Descartes to consider how we know Written in French Knowledge and even existence based on the fact that we recognize that we know (I think, therefore I am) Attempts to establish the foundations for physics The Meditations was circulated among Parisian intellectuals for response, then Descartes wrote a reply to these critiques Antoine Arnaud, priest and Jansenist Thomas Hobbes, English exile, atheist Pierre Gassendi, priest, physicist and philosopher (epicurean)

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) Born in France, spent his life in France Father was a minor aristocrat; family deeply religious Attracted to Jansenism Opposed to strong French monarchy; opposed to Jesuits Pascal was an important experimental physicists Existence of vacuums by experiments with barometers Pascal’s Law in fluid mechanics Pascal even more important as mathematician Probability theory (basis of statistics, gambling) Pascal’s Triangle (binomial expansions, combinatorics)

Jansenism Cornelius Jansenius (1585-1638) Belgian bishop Opposed to policies of Louis XIV Wrote Augustinus, published after his death The ‘Catholic Calvinism’ Supported Augustine’s view of corruption of man’s nature, and double predestination Very influential in France, especially against Jesuit more optimistic view of human nature Condemned by Pope Innocent X in 1653, and French Assembly of Clergy in 1681

Convent at Port Royal and Pascal Center for spiritual and intellectual elite of France Most famous follower was Blaise Pascal, whose sister was head of convent Pascal opposed Jesuit view that man could come to some certain knowledge of God and morality through his natural reason. Pascal accepted the paradox that man was at the same time made in God’s image and man had a corrupted nature after the fall. So man had a simultaneous tendency to glory and depravity But Pascal was not just writing against the Jesuits; also against rising tide of atheism that developed after the Thirty Years War

Pascal’s Wager Can not prove with certainty that God exists But one must chose; cannot live in a state of agnosticism (same as atheism) Observing the universe would lead one to at least 50-50 chance that God does exist What is lost if I believe in God, and He does not exist? What is at stake if I do not believe and He does exist? Therefore the rational thing to do is to wager for God

Assignments 1. Hitchcock, Chapter 10. 2. Blaise Pascal Pensees Series III available at http://www.classicallibrary.org/pascal/pensees/pensees03.htm