Philosophy

Pierce College

Department of History, Philosophy, & Sociology

Group Exercise on Descartes and Deception

(Notes on the importance of group exercises.)

Group Work Summary: In groups discuss your experiences of sensory deception, and what that does for your ability to trust your senses.

Step 1 (ten minutes): Individually, describe an instance of sensory deception. What happened, and how did it feel? If you don’t know of an instance of sensory deception, invent one.

Step 2 (ten minutes):  In groups, discuss your instances of sensory deception, in turn. 

Step 3 (ten minutes):  In groups, craft your group's exemplar instance of sensory deception. Prepare an explanation of your instance to help someone understand your group's exemplar instance of sensory deception.

Step 4 (ten minutes):  Each group presents their exemplar instance of sensory deception.