upon the powers of human reason alone, a system of thought whose various principles are true and are related to each other in such a way that the mind could move easily from one true principle to another The beginning philosopher: He broke with the past and gave philosophy a fresh start. He did not rely on previous philosophers and their ideas, and from authority. He used only those truths, which he knew through his own rational powers. His decision: "to believe nothing too certainly of which I had only been convinced by example and custom." Rules of Method: rules by which our powers of intuition and deduction are guided in an orderly way. "Reduce involved and obscure propositions step by step to those that are absolutely simple (analysis), and attempt to ascend to the knowledge of all others by precisely similar steps (synthesis)." Four Precepts: (i) Never to accept anything true which I did not know to be such. (ii) To divide each of the difficulties under examination into as many parts as possible, and as might be necessary for its adequate solution. (iii) To conduct my thoughts in such order that by commencing with objects that are easiest and simplest to know, I must ascend little by little to the knowledge of the more complex. (iv) In every case, to make enumerations so complete and reviews so general that I might be assured that nothing was omitted. Rationalism: little emphasis is given on sense experience and experiment in achieving knowledge. "Nothing but my understanding alone conceives the essential qualities of things. It is solely by an inspection by the mind that I am able to know the true qualities of things.“ He was confident that he could start from the beginning, and rethink and rebuild all of philosophy by having recourse solely to his rational powers, and directing them in accordance with the rules. Methodic doubt: "Because I wished to give myself entirely to search after truth, it was necessary to reject as absolutely false everything concerning which I could imagine the least ground of doubt." Criterion of truth: "I will accept nothing except that which is true, namely, clear and distinct ideas. (a) Clear: "that which is present and apparent to an attentive mind." (b) Distinct: "that which is so precise and different that it contains within itself nothing but what is clear." Things that are doubted: (i) All knowledge acquired through the senses, because our senses sometimes deceive us. (ii) All experiences may only be dreams. The images/events in our dreams are as real as our experiences when we are awake. (iii) Though mathematical truths are not arrived at through perception, and are true even in our dreams, these truths may have been given us by an Evil Genius who is as powerful as God. Hence, there is nothing in what I formerly believed to be true which I cannot somehow doubt The Cogito and the Self. There is only one thing of which we can be certain -- the very act of doubting. The more I doubt this act, the more I confirm it. To doubt is to think. That which thinks must be something. Cogito ergo sum. I think therefore I exist. I affirm my existence as I discover the "I think." What is it that exists? A res cogitans, "a thing which doubts, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, and which also imagines and feels." It is not a body, an extended substance (res extensa) but a substance whose whole nature is to think, a spiritual substance. Descartes hoped to rebuild the whole system of knowledge on the basis of the first philosophical truth: Cogito ergo sum. The existence of God. Ontological argument: It is evident to our minds that the idea "God" is clearly and distinctly conceived as the most perfect being. It is likewise clear that the very idea of perfection implies existence so that to speak of a non-existent perfection is to engage in a contradiction. Thus, God necessarily exists
What else exists?
As a perfect being, God cannot be a deceiver because deception is an imperfection, which cannot be attributed to God. God could not deceive us. The evil genius is not God. It cannot be as powerful as God because there cannot be two most powerful beings. Mathematical truths are legitimate and certain. Existence of things. Descartes took another look at things around him and asked: How can I know that my body and other physical things exist? Intuitively, we attest to the fact that we all have clear and distinct experiences of changing position and moving about. We also receive sense impressions of sight, sound and touch frequently even against our will. These experiences incline us to believe that these sense impressions are conveyed to us by corporeal objects, either our bodies or other bodies. This inclination to believe comes from God. Since God cannot be a deceiver, then this inclination must be right. Hence, corporeal objects exist. Substance. There are two different kinds of substance: (a) res cogitans, spiritual substance whose attribute is thought, and (b) res extensa, corporeal substance, which is characterized as extended. As each substance is "an existent thing which requires nothing but itself to exist," then each substance is thoroughly independent of any other. Thought and extension are distinct and separate. Mind-body interaction. Living bodies are parts of the material order, since they are extended substances. Animals move without thinking. Their actions are accounted for by purely mechanical considerations. Animals are automata. Many activities of man are as mechanical as those of animals. Respiration, circulation of the blood, and digestion are all automatic. These movements of the human body do not originate from the human mind or soul. Mind-body interaction. Since the soul has its principal seat in the brain, in the pineal gland, it comes in contact with the vital spirits and through these interacts with the body. The soul can affect the direction of motion of certain parts of the body. Though each substance is completely independent, the mind must not dwell in the body as a pearl in an oyster, or as a pilot in a ship.
"Nature teaches me by these sensations of
pain, hunger, thirst ... that I am not lodged in my body as a pilot in a vessel, but that I am very closely united to it, and so to speak, so intermingled with it that I seem to compose with it one whole."