The first indubitable certainty Descartes reaches through methodic doubt is expressed as:

Cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am)

Descartes uses the device of an "evil demon" (malin genie) in order to:

Push doubt to its extreme by supposing a deceiver could falsify even simple beliefs

The metaphysics of Descartes is a substance dualism between:

Res cogitans (thinking substance) and res extensa (extended substance)

In which work does Descartes present the Six Meditations including the cogito and proofs of God?

Meditations on First Philosophy

A defining commitment of rationalism, shared by Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz, is that:

Some substantive knowledge is innate or attainable by reason independent of sense experience

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GATE Humanities and Social Sciences - Philosophy Syllabus

Covers classical and contemporary philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, and Indian philosophical traditions, for candidates interested in philosophical research and critical inquiry.

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Trap of the day

Frege’s sense vs reference: “morning star” and “evening star” share a reference (Venus) but differ in sense.

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Logic

A valid argument can still have a false conclusion if a premise is false. Only a SOUND argument (valid + true premises) guarantees truth.

Affirming the consequent (P→Q; Q; ∴P) and denying the antecedent are formal fallacies, not valid inferences.

Necessary ≠ sufficient: oxygen is necessary for fire but not sufficient. Swapping them breaks the argument.

Deduction preserves truth (valid → certain); induction is only probable. Calling a strong induction “proof” is an error.

Correlation ≠ causation; post hoc ergo propter hoc (after → therefore because) is a classic causal fallacy.

Epistemology

A priori knowledge is independent of experience; a posteriori depends on it. “Innate vs learned” is a different axis — don’t conflate.

Hume: constant conjunction is not observed causation — we never perceive the necessary connection itself.

Analytic statements are true by meaning (“bachelors are unmarried”); synthetic need facts. Kant’s “synthetic a priori” breaks the easy pairing.

Ethics

Utilitarianism judges acts by consequences; deontology by duty/rules — the same act can be right under one, wrong under the other.

Philosophy of Language

Frege’s sense vs reference: “morning star” and “evening star” share a reference (Venus) but differ in sense.

GATE Humanities and Social Sciences - Philosophy Syllabus (2025)

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