Mathematics and Souls
Index 
Appearance and Reality Epistemology
Lemuel Gulliver narrating what Aristotle told him after the governor of Glubbdubdrig conjured Aristotle. Lemuel also requested the presence of Descartes and Gassendi, more nearly contemporaries of Lemuel who reasoned forcefully for God and soul, to explain their systems to Aristotle. They did, apparently, for next Lemuel says: "This great philosopher (Aristotle) freely acknowledged his own mistakes in natural philosophy because he proceeded in many things upon conjecture, as all men must do; and he found that Gassendi who had made the doctrine of Epicurus as palatable as he could, and the vortices of Descartes were equally exploded." ..... Chapter 8, page 239 Descartes, of course, is of "I think, therefore I am" fame, but that was just his starting point. He also proposed the scientific model of experimentation, induction, and deduction as the method to achieve truth in the material world. Admitting his mistakes, Aristotle acknowledges this approach to material truth as superceding his, not in method, but in detail (e.g. air, water, earth, and fire; though that sounds pretty much the same as gas, liquid, solid, and plasma to me, replace plasma with energy if you must). Descartes goes further and extends the method from "absolute certainty" of "existence" to the "absolute certainty of God and the immortal soul", using logic and the scientific method as his means of proof. I think Swift, Aristotle, and Epicurus would agree with Descartes' starting point and its application to material "truth", but raise questions about some or all of the logical steps required to get to his conclusions about God and soul (the vortices in the quote). Cassendi defended the atomism and pursuit of happiness of Epicurus but used him as a springboard, similar to Descartes' "I am", to reason to God and immortal soul; thereby, as in the quote, making Epicurus palatable to Christians and other "other" believers. He also said "true" happiness was only possible after death, missing Epicurus' whole point, as Swift's humor implies. |