Descartes Meditations – Module 3 – AQA

Meditation I – Things which can be called into Doubt

• Descartes rejects all his beliefs about the external world because they are doubtful and he wants to find a foundation that is indubitable to fix his beliefs on
• His arguments for universal doubt
  • Senses can be deceived
    • Perception / Bent Stick / Mirages
  • Dreaming
    • It is possible we are dreaming right now
  • Evil Demon (or God)
    • Could be systematically deceiving us, even doubtful about the truth 2+3=5, as he could be tricking us there.

Critical Analysis of Descartes Method

• Is immunity from doubt a criterion for knowledge?
  • Surely this just leads to the inevitability of scepticism and if you set the bar too high, we will find out nothing.
  • It could be also argued that global…