Examples Of Rene Descartes Skepticism

Abstract: Descartes’ Philosophy attempts to undertake the most extreme skepticism possible to prove that we have knowledge through all possible doubt. He attempts to do this by proving the existence of a perfectly perfect God who would not allow us to be deceived by any omniscient deceiver. He uses instrumental skepticism to refute the most extreme type of skepticism. Through the use of the Evil Demon Hypothesis, Descartes is able to bring his audience to the most extreme doubt. Once in this most extreme doubt, Descartes will begin to bring his audience to believe that we are able to find knowledge through our epistemic beliefs. If Descartes were to advocate any type of skepticism, he would advocate Partial Practical Skepticism, questioning
Formally educated in Law, Descartes is referred to as the Father of Modern Philosophy. After studying Military Engineering in the Dutch Republic, Descartes had an epiphany of Philosophical enlightenment in 1619 (Wikipedia). From that point forward, Descartes became a scholar, studying mathematics, astronomy and philosophy (Wikipedia). Descartes laid down the foundation for 17th Century Rationalism, which opposed empiricist schools of thought (Wikipedia). Philosophy relating to Descartes is formally referred to as Cartesian Philosophy, which seeks to rid the world of the “disease” of non-dogmatism (Descartes). Descartes believed that knowledge was something we all could obtain without a doubt. His opposition of Pyrrhonian Skepticism and non-dogmatic thinking led Descartes to “cure” these ideals through some of the most absurd
By using this instrumental skepticism and sending his audience into the most extreme doubt possible, they will be able to understand their own philosophy towards life. With this idea, he was able to show the absurdity of doubting everything. The use of instrumental skepticism allows for Descartes to show skeptics, such as Pyrrhonians, that their use of skepticism in their daily life tends to be extreme (Descartes). He is able to show this absurd ideal even though his Meditations were unable to prove that his agenda was completely valid (Total Philosophy). However, Descartes does not completely discard doubt, but uses it to prove that through the most extreme doubt, it is still possible to have some