How Did Christopher Rene Descartes Skepticism

1st Essay Assignment: Skepticism and the Self

One of the re occurring problems in philosophy revolve around whether or not a claim can be proven true. This is known as skepticism or, in simpler terms, casting doubt. One very famous philosopher, Rene Descartes, whose major work revolved around skepticism and casting doubt. He is the one who takes the question of whether one can easily prove their existence or not and analyzes it. Through the reading of his three meditations on first philosophy, it is easy to see how many of his thoughts raise the skeptic’s eyebrow in rebuttal. Especially, in his second mediation, by trying to prove his own existence, Descartes causes one of the biggest controversies in his career. Through the relationship between

This allows for the reader to see that the “I exist” claim, is very special, Descartes explains, because it is one of the only propositions of knowledge that cannot be doubted. Now in his second mediation, completely disregards the three main beliefs of his first meditation to be false, he cannot help but acknowledge the fact that one belief remains true. That belief being the claim of “I exist”. It is impossible to doubt your own existence because in order for you to cast doubt on something you need to exist for that to happen. If you don’t exist what would you actually be doubting. To say you doubt your own existence, only things that exist can make doubts. If one is able to think, then self must be present in order for that to happen. Descartes goes through a lot of analysis to prove this to be true, he says “Is it then the case that I too do not exist? ... He will never bring it about that I am nothing so long as I shall think that I am something. Thus, after everything has been most carefully weighed, it must finally be established that this pronouncement "I am, I exist" [ego sum, ego existo] is necessarily true every time I utter it or conceive it in my mind." (Meditation II). Even the working of an evil demon to mislead him would provide suffice enough that he existed. Descartes comes to the conclusion that the thing that allows for him

In sum, foundationalism is thinking that all knowledge derive from a small number of basic sources and it must be free from doubt. They would agree that some beliefs are known only because some other beliefs are known. Basically foundationalist, agree that to justify anything you must one, ditch everything, and rebuild from solid foundation and two, you must eliminate mistakes. Ideally Descartes claim of his existence became a fundamental element of Western philosophy, as it helped to form a secure foundation for proving knowledge in the face of doubt. By proving his own existence Descartes is then able to prove that some beliefs cannot be doubted. He shows that thinking proves one existence, and the idea of even doubting it proves it to be right. He uses his theory of knowledge to prove that the existence of the mind, is