Meditations on First Philosophy

Originally published in 1641
Masked his true intention with notes about the existence of God
- Primary goal: epistemological (epistemology)
  - Discover their abilities in knowledge/belief
  - Epistemology --> "First Philosophy"
  - Before we can answer questions about "what is", we must answer questions about "what we can know"
- Secondary goal: metaphysical (metaphysics)
  - Use their discovered cognitive abilities
Cartesian Skepticism
- Philosophical skepticism --> question of knowledge claims
- Form of philosophical skepticism
- Questions the very foundation of knowledge
Deals with the existence of God and the distinction between the human soul and body

Meditation I

Goal is to show us that the senses do not provide certainty
- Belief in them needs to be argued for
Stages of Doubt
1. Doubts arising from the senses
  - Deductive argument
  - The argument
    - Premise 1: Our senses have deceived us in the past
    - Premise 2: It is unwise to trust completely those who have deceived us even once
    - Conclusion: One should not place absolute confidence in one's senses
  - Premise 2 could be rejected in that it only applies to specific cases
    - Observing things far away, tiny things, things in bad light, etc.
2. The dream hypothesis
  - The argument
    - Premise 1: You can never be completely certain that you are not dreaming
    - Premise 2: You can only be completely certain that your perceptions are accurate if you can be sure you aren't dreaming
    - Conclusion: You can never be completely sure your perceptions are accurate
3. Imperfect God hypothesis
  - An all-powerful God could manipulate math, etc.
4. Evil demon hypothesis
  - All-powerful, evil demon doing everything possible to deceive you