In the first mediation of René Descartes'
"Mediations on the First Philosophy" (titled: "On
the things that may be called Into doubt") He introduces his project
of building a new edifice of scientific and philosophical knowledge using his
method of doubt (first proposed in his "Discourse on the Method"). According to
Descartes neither the senses nor reason can be trusted so long as it possible
that we are mistaken about their deliverance. We are familiar with everyday
errors in perception and this should suggest, in this extreme philosophical
enterprise, that we reject the evidence of the senses entirely, since they are
not infallible. Yet there is surely a difference between a local mistake, such
as seeing a square tower as round in the distance, and a global mistake, which
would be when everything we experience is mistaken. But since any veridical
sensory experience could be reproduced as a dream, if there is no means of
distinguishing dreaming from wakefulness, we cannot be sure whether experience
faithfully reflects a world beyond the mind or not (see Descartes' Dream Argument). The dreaming hypothesis
would leave knowledge of such things as mathematical truths alone, for they are
no less true in dreams. Yet, Descartes holds, if there could be an malicious
demon with full control over my mind, then he could deceive me constantly, for
the certainty that naturally attends even the simplest of thoughts, such as
that 2+2=4, could be nothing more than his making me feel certain. It therefore
appears I can be certain of nothing and this is the point in which meditation 1
ends.
In Meditation 1 Descartes presents his radical doubt and its
consequences on our ability to know anything (see Descartes' method of doubt ). In a sense Descartes breaks down
reality and knowledge for the purpose of reconstructing it on firmer, more scientific
grounds. The next meditation will try to do just that but in order to do so
Descartes needs to find his base, of what he calls his " Archimedean point"
of certainty which is to subject of meditation 2.
back to: A summary by chapter of Descartes' Meditations
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See also:essential summary of Rene Descartes' Meditations
Descartes' arguments for the existence of God in Meditations
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See also:essential summary of Rene Descartes' Meditations
Descartes' arguments for the existence of God in Meditations
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