Descartes: Three Doubts

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses Rene Descartes's three skeptical doubts and the importance of skepticism in his philosophy. The paper explains that the exercise of skepticism is the backbone of Descartes's philosophical approach and is the defining element of his meditations, insofar as they revolve around the identification and examination of three doubts: the doubt in his own existence, the reality of God, and the existence of the outside world. The importance and implications of these doubts are discussed in the paper in the hope of illustrating that, if we want to arrive at certain knowledge and objective truth, we should begin, as Descartes did, by doubting.

From the Paper:

"Descartes' third doubt is a natural extension of the first two and particularly interesting insofar as its conclusion is predetermined by the ones arrived at earlier. Quite simply stated, we know that we exist because we are thinking beings and ultimately, conclude that God exists because we have exercised our thinking abilities. However, the outside world is primarily communicated to us as an entity through multiple perceptions and perceptions, in themselves, cannot be accepted as certitudes insofar as they may be misled by the Evil Demon. Nevertheless, the proof for the existence of the external may ultimately emerge from our knowledge of it. Knowledge, insofar as it had earlier been defined by Descartes as indubitable and a product of good God, cannot, therefore be deceiving. Hence, the outside world exists."

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