René Descartes’ Epistemology
Hey! Do you know René Descartes? I am sure you have heard of his name in your academic classes. René Descartes was a famous philosopher from France. He was a Math and a Science fanatic!
To help you further, “I think; therefore I am.” Have you heard of this quote? Yes, Descartes said it!
Moving forward, René Descartes responded to the philosophy of skepticism during his time in the 1600’s. According to Descartes, human ideas are infinite, and infinite ideas cannot be created by finite beings. Hence, human ideas are from God. Most importantly, if the entire universe is handled by God, then these philosophies–a.) Ideas are from dreams and stay in dreams, b.) There is an evil genius that controls human minds. and, c.) The brain works on its own.–are invalid. For you to visually understand, let me post a screenshot here.
Descartes’ philosophy against global skeptics is my current epistemological belief. For one, I do believe in an infinite God. For two, I believe that my brain is limited but God’s ideas are not. And, finally, God is always in control of everything. Nothing happens without His knowledge and control.
Since I have this epistemological belief, the most effective learning theory for me as a learner is cognitivism. I get my intrinsic motivation from God. At times, I feel inadequate in learning, absorbing new knowledge, and processing it. However, I believe that when I pray, God helps me through His Holy Spirit. He gives me wisdom, knowledge, and discernment to distinguish valuable lessons from invaluable ones and to identify false beliefs from truth. Most of the time, I believe my writing ideas are from this infinite Being. And, even I get surprised with how ideas would flow and would make sense.
Overall, man has various ways of knowing, has unique reservations and justifications of knowledge, and has different knowledge influencers. For example, you may believe or not believe in everything I write in this eJournal. You may even bash my writing or my ideas. But, I do respect whatever you have in mind. You own your worldview, your perspective, your opinion. This respect, however, does not mean I agree with you. We may always agree to disagree depending on our epistemological beliefs. In the end, we all come out better from every argument; come out better from every disagreement; and come out better from every disconnection of beliefs.
Like what this blog is all about, better is what we want to become in the end.
Better Teachers 