Rene Descartes

1596-1650

"One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been said by one philosopher or another."

(Rene Descartes, Le Discours de la Méthode)

Rene Descartes is commonly known as the Father of Modern Philosophy and was especially influential in epistemology. As we’ve seen, it’s natural to accept the beliefs that come from our senses as foundational, or as justified without supporting argument. We do it all the time. You probably believe that you’re sitting before a computer (or a piece of paper if you’ve printed this out) right now simply because you see it. It hardly seems as though you need to give an argument to support the evidence of your senses. Surely you can trust what you see, and hear, and taste, and smell, and touch!

But things aren’t quite that simple (nothing in philosophy is that simple) and Descartes appreciated the complexity of the issue.

Descartes lived from 1596 to 1650. This was a period in which many beliefs were being challenged. In particular, Galileo lived at roughly the same time, from 1564 to 1642. Galileo, as you may remember, is famous now (and was infamous during his lifetime) for demonstrating the earth revolved around the sun. Why was that such big deal? There are at least two reasons.

First, the heliocentric (sun-centered) theory contradicts the immediate evidence of our senses! If you stand outside and look long enough, it seems like the sun is revolving around the Earth. Thus, Galileo demonstrated that beliefs which seem to be true, and for which we have direct sensory evidence, can actually be false.

Second, the beliefs that were contradicted by Galileo, essentially the geocentric (or Earth-centered) theory of astronomy, were important to a lot of people. It wasn’t “just” an academic or scientific dispute because the position of the Earth was supposed to have theological implications. If the Earth were at the center of the universe, it would symbolize the central importance of human beings in divine creation. If the Earth is simply one of many planets orbiting the sun then maybe it isn’t all that important. And if the Earth isn’t all that important then maybe we aren’t all that important. But according the Church, we are that important, the creature for the sake of whom God created the heavens and the Earth and around which creation should, literally, revolve. So, if Galileo is right then maybe the Church is wrong? And if the Church is wrong then maybe God doesn’t exist?

So, you see, some of our most “obvious” beliefs can be false in ways that matter. Appreciating this fact, as true today as it was in Descartes’ time, can help us to understand and share Descartes’ project. Descartes was a foundationalist, and he wanted to ensure that our foundational beliefs were solid and that the rest of our beliefs were securely built upon the foundational beliefs, because this will help us to avoid being mistakenly sure that we’re right when we’re actually wrong.

Descartes’ strong desire to avoid believing falsehoods is the first of his Big Ideas.

Big Idea 1: It’s important to avoid believing false things. We want definite truth.

This gives us Descartes’ epistemological objective.

Now let’s see how Descartes chooses his foundational beliefs, and how he builds from them, in order to avoid believing anything false, by taking a look at Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy.