PHIL 100 Lecture Notes - Evil Demon, Cartesian Doubt, Jawoyn
17 Sep 2013
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Now imagine feeling betrayed by your own beliefs. If you can imagine such a feeling, then you can put yourself in descartes shoes the day he decided to start composing the first meditation. His desire for certainty is what ultimately motivated him to become engaged in such an elaborate project. He wanted to never again fall into the trap of believing anything false. That being said, the fire was lite, and his determination had skyrocketed. He then had to start from complete scratch. First, descartes had to tear down his doubtful structure of beliefs. this step being the first order of business gives descartes a clean slate to work with. Ensuring he is not duped into believing anything false, he must also refrain from believing anything for which he can find even the slightest bit of doubt. In order to achieve his goal of certainty, descartes must adopt the most cautious method possible, known as methodological skepticism.
