Introduction to Western Philosophy: Wisdom, Identity, and the Meaning of Life Critical Reflection Metaphysics, Epistemology and God How are you doing in the class? Are you satisfied with your progress? This section was the most difficult in the class – identify three (3) challenges you faced with learning the material. Metaphysics, Epistemology, and God In this class, we covered four (4) major philosophies of metaphysics and epistemology. Each of these Platonic Dualism, Cartesian Rationalism, Lockean Empiricism, and Kantian Synthesis are major philosophical perspectives held by philosophers today. Plato asserts that there are two parts of our reality – an observable world we know through the senses and an ‘invisible’ world we can only know with our minds through higher levels of reasoning. Do you agree with this or not? If you believe in God don’t you already accept much of Plato’s world? Rene Descartes also argued that the world is dualistic – mind and body. Do you agree with this? Are mind and body best understood as separate ‘substances?” What is the relationship between mind and body? John Locke rejected Descartes’ dualism in favor of knowledge only from the senses. Do you agree with Locke that what really matters is what the senses can discover for us? Immanuel Kant stated that both Rationalism and Empiricism ‘fail’ philosophically. What does mean by that and do you agree with him?
