Descartes’ Project

His objective was to utterly deconstruct everything and to adopt a completely innovative approach to the foundations on which beliefs were built, and to establish a new worldview. He saw that in order to achieve anything substantial in the sciences that is stable and long-lasting, a new ideal was required. He was inspired by the realization that many things he had always assumed to be true were in fact untrue. Furthermore, he saw that the structure of beliefs as an institution was questionable in and of itself. As a result, he dedicated himself to destroying his convictions. He attempts to show that all his beliefs are false and follow assent from propositions that are not true. To achieve this, he decides on rejecting his opinions by delving into the exact principles on which his beliefs lay basis.

Descartes had the idea that beliefs were built on top of one another like a building. In this context, some beliefs provide support or backing to others. Suppose there are two beliefs, A and B, if belief A provides support to B, then we would believe B due to the fact that we believe A to be true. Similar to a scenario where when foundations on which a building is built collapse, the building does collapse, beliefs follow in the same way. Descartes believes that once his beliefs have been imposed to doubt, and consequently shattered, he will become pure of thought and belief. The claim made by Descartes infers on the process of belief development in humans. Further, a rational mind is organized in the same way, and individuals will want to hold beliefs about the same structure. For instance, in a jury and defendant case, they all develop beliefs of the defendant’s guilt based on the evidence presented before them, and what they infer from it. The evidence forms a strong benchmark to their belief and was it to be changed or compromised, the case would tumble through doubt.

Descartes first meditation is on what could be called into doubt. Descartes was aware of the fact that we cannot be able to simply clear our minds and thoughts and begin afresh. He was worried about what to keep or discard in our quest to get to trust ourselves. As a result, he developed the method of doubt, where he came to the decision to refuse any proposition which presented an opportunity for doubt (Descartes 2). However, he argued that this action did not necessarily mean that he was terming them. Epistemic doubt refers to doubt as a consequence of evidence presented before oneself. On the other hand, psychological doubt is simply a gut feeling of being unsure about a thing.

Descartes assumed that some malicious, powerful, cunning demon tried as much as it could to deceive him through dreams in the form of earthly and worldly things (Descartes 3). The demon even managed to trap him and his judgment. The possibility that an evil demon existed dented Descartes beliefs. As a result, Descartes developed doubts, sensing surroundings that were not really there, inducing “correct” thinking in him, which was false, and making him feel as though he was exercising self-will, while he was but a tool by the demon.

It is possible to have thoughts of non-existence, while we still exist. The Demon created a world where individuals thought they are pondering their existence, but in reality, they were not. Descartes came to the conclusion that despite the attempts by the demon to create an illusion that he did not exist, he asserted it, thought it, and so it was. Mere thinking acts as evidence of his existence because of his plausible approach to consciousness (Descartes 5). He argued that an individual cannot have something in their mind, without knowing that they have it.

Works Cited

Descartes, René. ”Meditations on First Philosophy in which are demonstrated the existence of God and the distinction between the human soul and body.“ The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (2010).