University:
Amherst College
Course:
PHIL 111 | Philosophical Questions
Academic year:

2023
Views:

83

Pages:

1
Author:

ilikemyicons0y5

Descartes Summary Sheet Meditation 2 At the beginning of Meditation 2 Descartes is in Diabolic Doubt which means he can be certain of nothing. Not even his own senses. In Meditation 2 Descartes aims to find some piece of knowledge that can survive the Evil Genius Hypothesis and act as his foundation for knowledge. Descartes argues that even if an evil demon is deceiving him something must exist in order to be deceived. The very fact that Descartes can be deceived proves that the exists. It doesn’t prove that he has arms or legs but it proves that he exists as a thinking thing. The Cogito or cogito ergo sum is a certain truth. This means it is beyond doubt. Similar truths include a priori knowledge such as “Bachelors are unmarried men.” It would be a contradiction to say “I don’t exist” because you must exist in order to think you don’t exist. This means The Cogito is self sufÏcient. The Cogito is the one thing that Descartes can be certain about. It is important in his philosophy because he can use it as his foundation for knowledge. The Cogito is what Descartes will build the rest of his knowledge on just like a builder would use the foundations of a house to put the rest of the house on. Descartes discovers The Cogito using doubt alone. This is where Descartes begins to show that doubt is a better approach than certainty.

Descartes Summary Sheet - Meditation 2

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