FOUNDATIONS OF SCIENCE

We have talked about the problem of the "divorce" of science and Philosophy.

	Majored on the problems with modern science.

	Problems in modern philosophy also contributed to the "divorce"-

		PHILOSOPHICAL IDEALISM - the belief that knowledge begins with thought rather than with things.

		Modern philosophy - idealism writ large - begins with Renatus Cartesius  -- Rene Descarte.

			Trying to give Catholic theology the same clarity he saw in mathematics (partially in reaction against the Protestant Revolt  -- he was a younger contemporary of Luther).

			Finally decided on the method of radical doubt (fundamental skepticism) - to doubt everything, even existence, and work his way from this doubt to regaining all his knowledge, including his 						knowledge of God.

				The "cogito ergo sum" -- the dictum that summarizes his "axiom" (as it were).

					Unfortunately, even a small error at the beginning of a project leads to large errors at the end; and this axiom is not a small error, but a very large one.  In reality, he got "des cartes before 								des horse."

				To illustrate, let's expand the cogito so that we can more easily see his method.
					
					What he is really saying is "I know that think, therefore I know that I am/exist."
						He's talking about knowledge - science.

					He is starting from inside his head.  How does he get out?

						1.  If indeed, we know only what is in the mind, how can we ever know that there is anything outside of the mind?
						2.  An experiment.
							A. Observe self without observing self doing (including "feeling")
							B. Observe self without observing self thinking.
								(1) Can we do  without doing something?
								(2) Can we think without thinking (about) something?
									If we think about things, then how does our mind do that?  
									Are things inside the mind?
										Yes and no.

						3.  We have to think about things (even actions are things):
							A. The  things about which we think must be inside the mind or outside it.
							B. If inside, how does the mind access them; how does the mind know itself to be different from the things within it?
								In short, how do we know there is a difference between the "I" in the cogito, the act of thinking,the objects of thought, and most importantly, the am?
							C. It is only by thinking about things other than the self that we can know ourselves as thinking beings/selves.

		The senses - the way in and the way out.
			
			What is the first knowledge we have?
				G K Chesterton's quip: "We know there is an "is"" - we know that something exists.  
				How?
				Possible process: unborn child in womb perceives things by sense of touch - the uterine wall, the placenta, umbilical cord, his own body.
					Before the unborn child knows "self" he knows that there is existence - things are.
					
					He knows the existence of things but does he know what they are?  Their essence?

				Knowledge of existence precedes knowledge of essence, just as existence [logically] precedes essence.  Existence precedes thinking; one can exist without thinking but cannot think without 
					existing		EXISTENCE PRECEDES ESSENCE.