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Meditations and Other Metaphysical Writings - Coggle Diagram
Meditations and Other Metaphysical Writings
Descartes' skeptcial arguments
Inability to differentiate between sleep and wakefulness
No clear way to know if we are awake
Possibility that all experience could be a dream
Dreams often feel like reality
The hypothesis of the evil demon
Math, logic, and reality could be illusions
Forces total doubt of everything
Imagine a powerful deceiver tricking our thoughts
Fallibility of the senses
Senses have deceived us before
Senses show appearances, not certainty
Perceptions
(e.g., seeing people in the street) are not always reliable
Gogito, ergo sum
Core Idea
I doubt = I think = I exist
Thought cannot be doubted
The self is the starting point of all knowledge
Significance
The thinking mind is more certain than the body
Mental activity (doubting, reasoning) proves existence
First solid truth after radical doubt
Methodic Doubt (The Cartesian Method)
Goal
Find truth by removing all uncertain beliefs
Steps
Break problems into parts
Solve from simple to complex
Review everything completely
Accept nothing as true unless it is clear and certain
Consequences & Philosophical Impacts
Foundation for rationalism and modern science
Shift from object (external world) to subject (thinking self)
Separates mind (soul) and body (material world)
Reason becomes the main path to truth, not senses