Vision Theory of Descartes

Year 2018, Issue: 48, 1 - 20, 30.06.2018

Muhammet Gözütok

Abstract

The traces of epistemological items of Descartes, which make him the fuounder of modern philosophy, are seen in his vision theory. The dualism, which is seen in the Descartes’s philosophy, spreads each element of his vision theory. One of the starting points in the reasoning that led Descartes to the inference of “ego cogito ergo sum” is the view that the senses are not be trusted to obtain information. This determination is one of the important points of his vision theory as welle as his theory of perception. Criticizing Aristotle’s perception theory, Descartes developed his own mechanical philosophy of nature. Descartes, which forms a vision theory parallel to this mechanical philosophy of nature, has a similar attitude to the approaches of Ancient Greek thinkers who deal with the problem of vision geometrically. In terms of Descartes, there must be a spiritual intervention in order for visualization to take place. According to Descartes, who has made a comparison between light and a cane used by blind people, seeing is a spatial perception. Contrary to the theory of images which suggests that images resemble their objects, Descartes considers that images represent the objects in which they are displayed in our minds and therefore represent the objects in which they are displayed. For this reason it can be argued that Descartes’ philosophy is representational.

Keywords

Descartes, Vision Theory, Medium, Extramission, Intromission, Dualism

DESCARTES’IN GÖRME KURAMI

Abstract

Descartes’ı modern felsefenin kurucusu yapan epistemolojik öğelerin uzantıları, onun görme kuramında da görülür. Descartes’ın felsefesinde görülen düalizm, onun görme kuramının her bir öğesine nüfuz etmiştir. Descartes’ı “Ego cogito ergo sum” çıkarımına ulaştıran akıl yürütmedeki çıkış noktalarından biri duyulara, bilgi edinme konusunda güvenilmeyeceği görüşüdür. Bu belirlenim, onun algı kuramının olduğu kadar görme kuramının da önemli noktalarının başında gelir. Aristoteles’in algı kuramını eleştiren Descartes, kendi mekanik doğa felsefesini geliştirmiştir. Bu mekanik doğa felsefesine paralel bir görme kuramı oluşturan Descartes, görme sorununu geometrik açıdan ele alan Antik Yunan düşünürlerinin yaklaşımlarına benzer bir tavır sergilemiştir. Descartes açısından görmenin gerçekleşmesi için ruhun bir müdahalesinin olması gerekmektedir. Görme engellisinin kullandığı baston ile ışık arasında arasında anaoloji yapmış olan Descartes’e göre görme mekânsal bir algılamadır. Görüntülerin şeylere benzediğini ileri süren resim kuramına karşı çıkan Descartes, görüntülerin görüntüledikleri objeleri zihnimizde canlandığını ve bu nedenle görüntülerin görüntüledikleri objeleri temsil ettiklerini düşünür. Bu nedenle Descartes’in felsefi dizgesinin representasyonalist olduğu görülür. 

Keywords

Descartes, Görme Kuramı, Medium, Extramission, İntromission, Düalizm

References

• Cook, Monte (1987). “Descartes Alleged Representationalism”, History of Philosophy Quarterly, c. 4, sy. 2, pp. 179-195.
• De Rosa, Raffaella (2010). Descartes, The Puzle of Sensory Represetnatiton, Oxford University Press.
• Descartes (1995). “Letters”, The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, çev. J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff, D. Murdoch, c. 3, Cambridge University Press, 1995.
• Descartes (1995). “Principles of Philosophy”, The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, çev. J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff, D. Murdoch, c. 1, Cambridge University Press. Descartes (1995). “Meditations on First Philosophy”, The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, çev. J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff, D. Murdoch, c. 2, Cambridge University Press.
• Descartes (2004). “The Meteorology”, The World and Other Writings, çev. ve ed. Stephen Gaukroger, Cambridge University. Descartes (2004). “The Treatise on Light”, The World and Other Writings, çev. ve ed. Stephen Gaukroger, Cambridge University. Descartes (2004). “The Treatise on Man”, The World and Other Writings, çev. ve ed. Stephen Gaukroger, Cambridge University.
• Galili, Igal (2010). Excurse to The History of Image Concept and Vision: From Pythogars to Kepler, Jerusalem.
• Galison, Peter (1984). “Descartes’s Comparisons: From the Invisible to the Visible”, History of Science Society, c. 75, No. 2, pp. 311-326.
• Gaukroger, Stephen (2003). Descartes’ System of Natural Philosophy, Cambridge University Press.
• Hoenen, S. J. (1968). “Descartes’s Mechanism”, Descartes, A Collection of Critical Essays, ed. W. Doney, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 353-368.
• Lee, Kyoo (2013). Reading Descartes Otherwise: Blind, Mad, Dreamy, and Bad, Fortham University Press.
• Lennon, T. M. (1980). “Representationalism, judgment and perception of distance: further to Yolton and McRae”, Dialogue, c. 19, sy 1, 1980, pp. 151-162.
• Levinas, Emanuel (2003). Sonsuza Tanıklık. çev. M. Atıcı vd, Metis Yayınları, 2003.
• M. Ribe, Neil (1997). “Cartesian Optics and the Mastery of Nature”, History of Sicence Society, c. 88, No. 1, pp. 42-61.
• Mackenzie, Ann Wilbur (1989). “Descartes on Life and Sense”, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, c. 19, No. 2, pp. 163-192).
• Maull, N. L. (1978a). “Perception and Primary Qualities”, Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, c. 1, pp. 3-17. 20 Descartes’in Görme Kuramı
• Maull, N. L. (1978b). “Cartesian Optics and the Geometrization of Nature”, The Review of Metaphysics, c. 32, No. 2, pp. 253-273.
• McDonough J. (2003). “Descartes’ ‘Dioptrics’ and ‘Optics’”, Cambridge University Press. Merleau-Ponty, Maurice (2006). Göz ve Tin. çev. A. Soysal, Metis Yayıncılık.
• Morris, David (1997). “Optical Idealizm and the Languages of Depth in Descartes and Berkeley”, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, c. 35, pp. 363-392.
• Osler, M. J. (2008). “Descartes’S Optics: Light, the Eye, and Visual Perception”, A Companion to Descartes. ed. J. Broughton, J. Cariero, pp. 124-141.
• Platon (1997). Cosmology – The Timaeus Of Plato, 46b-c. Rorty, Richard (1980). Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Princeton University Press.
• Siebers, Tobin (1970). “The Blindspot in Descartes’ La Dioptrique”, French Issue: Perspectives in Mimesis, c. 94, No. 4, pp. 836-843.
• Snyder, Joel (1980). “Picturing Vision”, Critical Inquiry, c. 6. No. 3, pp. 499-526.
• Sorell, Tom (2004). Descartes, çev. C. Atila, Altın Kitaplar Yayınevi.
• Topdemir, Hüseyin Gazi ve Unat, Yavuz (2009). Bilim Tarihi, Pegem Akademi.
• Wolf-Devine, Celia (1993). Descartes on Seeing, Epistemology and Visual Perception, United States of Amerika: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993.
• Wolf-Devine, Celia (2000). Descartes’ Theory of Visual Spatial Perception, Descartes’s Natural Philosophy, ed. S. Gaukroger, J. Schuster, J. Sutton, pp. 506-527.
• Yolton, J. W. (1984). Perceptual Acquaintance From Descartes to Reid, University of Minnesota Press.