Descartes meditation 1

1) Foundationalism

a. An epistemology in which our knowledge is justified if it can be traced back to a belief of which we are certain.

2) Rationalism versus empiricism

a. Rationalism

i. All of our knowledge is based on reason alone.

ii. Descartes is a rationalist

b. Empiricism

i. All of our knowledge is based on sense experience.

ii. Locke and Berkeley are empiricists

3) Pyrrhonian skepticism – not just ‘nay’ saying

a. accept appearances qua appearances

i. don’t doubt what is in someone’s thought bubble

ii. will doubt the cause of an experience

b. method of opposition

i. the sceptic gives an account of the cause of an appearance without referring to a real external world

4) Realism

a. There is a reality external to us

b. Scepticism is a form of anti realism

5) Methodic doubt.

a. Descartes is not a sceptic. He uses skepticism to test all of his beliefs in hopes of finding a belief that is indubitable.

6) Think of the meditations as a game between the a realist and a sceptic (Descartes plays both roles)

a. The goal of the game is to find a belief that is immune to the skeptical challenge.

b. In the game, the sceptic will accept what appears in a person’s mind and tries to explain it in a non realist way, and the realist will argue against the sceptic’s attacks

c. If the sceptic wins, then we have to suspend judgment on everything that we think we know

d. If the realist wins, then we will have a piece of indubitable knowledge which can serve as a foundation.

Sceptical attack	Realist response
My senses have deceived me and hence are not trust worthy. I should not rely on things that are not trust worthy and so I should not rely on my senses,	I trust my senses under ideal conditions
Gourdhead argument; I should doubt my sense knlg b/c I may be crazy	This breaks the rules of the game because I don’t have the appearance of being crazy
Dream argument I should doubt my sense knlg because I have dreamed in the past and thought that my dream was real and so I could be dreaming the things that I think I’m sensing right now.	Painting analogy. See ”painting analogy web page”
Evil demon argument. An all powerful being could be putting false ideas into my head, even about things like 2+2=4 and the truths of geometry. Since it is all powerful it could also be fooling us about its existence.	At this point the realist concedes and Descartes goes home to try to convince himself to be a sceptic. But really he is just regrouping and he will have a response to the evil demon argument and find his foundation in meditation 2.