Descartes's Doubt Method

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Method of doubt is a systematic deduction where all beliefs are rejected, and on the next step they are checked whether they are true with certainty or not before they become knowledge. Father of this method is Renee Descartes. Since Descartes felt that the knowledge wasn’t on solid grounds, he started his search for truth with two tools: doubt and analysis. Starting by doubting everything for finding truth, doubt is pivotal tool for him. “The basic strategy of Descartes’ method of doubt is to defeat scepticism on its own ground. Begin by doubting the truth of everything—not only the evidence of the senses and the more extravagant cultural presuppositions, but even the fundamental process of reasoning itself.”( Kemerling). Descartes believed that science should be rested on solid foundations. But, these foundations should come from the mind and not from our senses, since we can be deceived by our senses. “Above all I enjoyed mathematics, because of the certainty and self evidence of its reasonings, but I did not yet see its true use and, thinking that it was only useful only for the mechanical arts, I was astonished that on such firm and solid foundations nothing more exalted had been built, while on the other hand I compared the moral writings of the ancient pagans to the most proud and magnificent palaces built on nothing but sand and mud.”(31). So he decided to use similar principal like the one in mathematics to find and establish truth in all sciences. After all education which is one of the best in his time he went through, he felt unsatisfactory with the knowledge he had. Then he decided to search for truth from stretch by his sole reasoning not by his senses, common beliefs, and opinions of other people. “It is some tim... ... middle of paper ... ...ssurance and the rejection of shifting ground and sand in order to find rock or clay ”(50). He use doubt for finding truth which has no doubt in it and not for doubting itself. Since Descartes felt unsatisfactory with Scholastics’ philosophy and method, he decided to obtain truth by himself through his reasoning. To accomplish this task, he employed two tools: doubt and analysis. He started by doubting everything, and accepted only the arguments which are evidently true, and continued building knowledge on the solid arguments he had proven before. Doubt as one of his tools for finding truth has a great importance. Works Cited Descartes, R. and Sutcliffe, F. 1968. Discourse on method and the meditations. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books. Kemerling, Garth. "Descartes: Starting with Doubt." Descartes: Overcoming Doubt. N.p., 12 Nov. 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.

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