Do You Swear to Tell the Truth, the WHOLE, Truth, so Help You God?
DESCARTES - ISBN -13: 978-0-140-44699-9
ROUSSEAU - ISBN - 0 14 044.363 0
In Rousseau Fourth walk he addresses Truth
The ideas on truth are interesting. Particularly concealing truth as not being a lie. (p. 65)
Rousseau asks questions re: not always obliged to tell truth and to deceit blamelessly (p. 65)
PAGE 66
- Truth is the most precious possession
- Truth is the eye of reason
- Through truth man learns to conduct himself; to live and act as he ought and strive towards true end
however particular and individual sense of truth not always good thing. sometimes bad or indifferent
truths without practical or instructive value are not a valuable possession
Is this where the phrases "own it" = take responsibility/stand by it or "own up to it" = confess
came from?
- The truth we owe one another concerns justice
- Truth needs usefulness
- Without usefulness we do not owe it (truth) to others therefore concealing truth is not a lie
Rousseau came to the conclusion that "truth is not based on fact but on feelings of integrity and justice; guided by moral dictates of my conscience."
Truth is a virtue
We must act justly towards others and act truthfully towards ourselves (p. 80)
It's never to late to learn even from our enemies to be wise, truthful, modest and less presumptuous (p. 80)
notions of fables brought up - also mentioned in other texts
DESCARTES ( p. 79)
truth; without doubt, known naturally
conformity of thought with object
universal agreement as criterion for his truth
as opposed to the universal conspiracy Rousseau speaks of (p. 44)
foolish judgements of men (Rousseau ,p.51)
reminiscent of King Lear
Rousseau's Personal Reformation (p. 50-51) outward and material and intellectual and moral (p. 53)
- was living at random with no rational principles
- quitted the world and its vanities
- developed a new moral vision
- and my heart answered them better than my reason
Rousseau declares a dominant interest in discovering truth (p. 59)
Rousseau's reasonable course of action adopted with approval of his heart and reason (p.59)
"confined myself to what was within my reach and did not attempt to understand what was beyond me"
Rousseau is less concerned with knowledge and his focus is on acquiring virtues; goods that death can not rob us of.
virtues; kindness, resignation, integrity, impartial justice
Rousseau
"Am I the only wise man who can see the light?" (p. 58)
LIGHT & TRUTH
Descartes
" Now, what I claim to have demonstrated about refraction does not depend on the truth about the nature of light, nor on the fact that light does or does not appear in an instant, but only on my assumption that it is an action or power which follows the same laws as local motion, (...)" (p. 74)
"I learned not to believe anything too firmly about which I had been convinced by example and custom alone. Thus I was gradually freed from many errors that can cloud our natural light and make us less capable of hearing reason." (p. 11)
paraphrased; "I decided to study within myself and use all the powers of my mind to choose the paths that I should follow (...) (p.11)
Descartes aims to acquire all the knowledge he can. " I also thought I could acquire all the genuine goods that would ever be within my grasp. For since our will cannot follow or flee from anything except in so far as our understanding represents the thing in question as good or evil, judging well is enough to do good and judging as well as possible is enough to do one's best, that is to acquire all the virtues and with them all the other goods that one is capable of acquiring." (p.22)
" Therefore, if someone wishes seriously to investigate the truth about things, they should not choose a particular science(...) they should think only about increasing the natural light of reason (... ) in order for their intellect to instruct their will about what choices to make in each of life's decisions" (p. 118)
(...) for when it is clear ans simple, we need no assistance from any art, but only from the light of human nature, to intuit the truth (...)" (p. 171)
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