🟢| K&D - Descartes Meditation 1

Question 1

Aims

4

Answer 1

• Find a foundation of knowledge that could not be doubted
• Prove superiority of rationalism
• Establish anything at all in the sciences that was stable and likely to last
• Prove God

Question 2

Method of Doubt

5

Answer 2

• Some beliefs taken to be true in his youth that were actually false, but Descartes had built upon these beliefs so he is lead to say that should be doubted
• Impossible to check all his beliefs individually, but he desired to be completely rigorous
• As a shortcut, Descartes decided to undermine foundations of a category of knowledge to be rigorous in a realistic timeframe
• By doing this, the knowledge that had been built upon these foundations will ‘crumble of its own accord’.
• If Descartes identified a foundational belief which was not entirely certain or indubitable, he would call these uncertain beliefs which must be treated as false beliefs.

Question 3

Method of Doubt:

Apple Cart Analogy

5

Answer 3

• If Descartes were to establish a certain foundation of knowledge, he needed to cast aside any beliefs he held which could possibly be doubted
• In Descartes’ words, he must “raze everything to the ground and begin again from the original foundations”.
• Likened to tipping all of the apples out of a cart, and tossing any of the rotten apples
• Apples represent Descartes’ knowledge, and the rotten ones represent knowledge that can be doubted
• What is left from this will be the foundations of Descartes’ knowledge

Question 4

Scepticism

2

Answer 4

• Not a sceptic himself, but took on a sceptical approach
• If Descartes was a sceptic, he’d see the task of finding a certain foundation of knowledge as impossible

Question 5

Senses Argument

5

Answer 5

• Descartes notes that there have been times where his senses have deceived him
• His method demands that if he found reason to doubt a foundation then all knowledge based on the foundation should be rejected - should all knowledge from the senses therefore be doubted?
• Our senses don’t deceive us all of the time - only our perceptions appear to regularly cause error, like observing something from a distance as small when it is of regular size
• Our reality is the sense experience we can’t doubt, but we could not trust this under two circumstances - if we are mad or dreaming
• It’s not plausible that we are mad, but it is plausible that we are dreaming

Question 6

Dreaming Argument

8

Answer 6

• Descartes argues that we can’t differentiate being awake from being asleep
• He may think he is in his dressing gown sitting by the fire, but he is actually asleep and dreaming this
• Descartes can’t present a strong argument to prove this, but for the sake of the argument and establishing certainty he must see it as a possibility
• Our sense experience can easily be doubted, so it should not be the foundation of our knowledge
• However, some knowledge does survive the argument
• An outside world must exist as there must be something our dreams are based off of - the painter observes the physical world and draws a representation of what he sees onto a canvas
• Mathematical truths also survive as they stay the same even when dreaming
• Descartes has made these conclusions using reason alone, with no reliance on the senses which shows how a priori knowledge survives

Question 7

Deceiving God

5

Answer 7

• Descartes has been confident in his belief of God existence his entire life
• Believes he was created by an all-powerful God, but this power could mean that God created Descartes to believe his deceptions
• Descartes dismisses this, because he also has strong beliefs about God’s traits - God is supremely good, and would never intentionally deceive Descartes
• May not be fully applying method of doubt, but if there was no God and a different explanation for Descartes’ existence we might be more likely in a state of deception as other explanations, like fate or chance, are less perfect
• Descartes has established our senses can deceive us, which means that God’s existence is compatible with deception despite his goodness and love

Question 8

Evil Demon

6

Answer 8

• Descartes knew that to find certainty he must carefully withhold his assent from all things, not just those things that are obviously false – this leads Descartes to consider even the most unlikely of possibilities.
• Descartes was taught from childhood that God was also all-powerful and all-knowing
• If he had these two attributes but was evil instead of good this would cast doubt upon a priori truths
• An evil demon could will at any time to deceive us on mathematical problems or necessary truths, and Descartes’ method demanded that if there is even the slightest doubt then all must be thrown out
• Leads Descartes to accept that a priori truths cannot be his foundation of knowledge, leaving nothing as certain
• Descartes admits evil demon is far-fetched - he does not believe in its existence, but he uses it as a tool to pretend his beliefs are false as it is difficult for him to put aside his trust