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Methodic doubt is a
systematic process of withholding assent regarding the truth or falsehood of
all one’s beliefs until they have been demonstrated or rationally proven to be
true or false. This method was introduced into the field of philosophy at the advent
of the modern period. With the rise of the Scientific Revolution, some
philosophers thought that by imitating the methodical nature of the natural
sciences with its scientific method, philosophy too could demonstrate certain,
indubitable truths. This attempt was made by the famous French philosopher and
mathematician René
Descartes (1596-1650), who is often referred to as the “Father of Modern
Philosophy.” Through the use of methodic doubt Descartes
attempted to demonstrate philosophical truths, which he thought could defeat
the most radical doubt or skepticism. Such a method
or way of doing philosophy has become a hallmark of modern philosophy,
particularly within the rationalist tradition.
Methodic doubt,
in Cartesian philosophy, a way of
searching for certainty by systematically though tentatively doubting
everything. First, all statements are classified according to type and source
of knowledge—e.g., knowledge from tradition, empirical knowledge, and
mathematical knowledge. Then, examples from each class are examined. If a way
can be found to doubt the truth of any statement, then all other statements of
that type are also set aside as dubitable. The doubt is methodic because it
assures systematic completeness, but also because no claim is made that all—or
even that any—statements in a dubitable class are really false or that one ...
(100 of 303 words)
Cartesian origin
Aim of Descartes’s Methodic Doubt
Descartes
exemplified his methodic doubt in "Meditation 1" of
his classic Meditations on First Philosophy. Descartes began by stating
that throughout his life he had acquired many opinions and beliefs which he
later discovered to be false. Also, he had read many books and found that the
most profound thinkers disagreed on the most important issues. But what Descartes
sought was a truth beyond dispute, a certainty that could not be doubted. The
problem was how to achieve this aim. Clearly he could not filter through each
and every idea he had acquired over his entire lifetime. So he devised a
systematic method by which he could set aside huge numbers of ideas. First, he
determined that any belief or supposed knowledge that admitted even the
slightest doubt could not be held as true. This did not mean he had to
disbelieve it, but simply suspend his judgment regarding it. Secondly,
Descartes determined that different kinds of opinions could be grouped
according to the principle or foundation upon which they were based. So if the
underlying principle could be doubted, then all beliefs based on that principle
could be set aside. In this way, Descartes set out to “demolish the house” of
all his former opinions in order to rebuild the foundation upon which all true
knowledge was to be built. The methodic doubt that he employed was carried out
in three systematic steps.
Summary of Descartes’s Methodic Doubt
The
first step of Descartes’s methodic doubt was to question all knowledge
that he had acquired through the senses. He determined that if the senses had
deceived him even once, they were no longer trustworthy. But in the past his
senses had deceived him. For example, he often mistook what he saw at a
distance (like a tree that appeared to be a man). Moreover, even the
impressions he received in the moment, when he was directly looking at
something (like the fire before him when he was writing), proved not to be reliable.
For how did he know that he was not really dreaming? Descartes tried to answer
this question by arguing that our immediate impressions are so vivid they must
be real; immediately he countered this argument, however, by recalling that he
often dreamed of sitting before the fire while writing, and that some of these
dreams appeared to him quite vividly. Thus, he could not be sure that he was
not dreaming at that very moment. In any case, from this doubt Descartes
determined that all the knowledge received through the senses must be
suspended.
The
second step of Descartes’s methodic doubt began by accepting for
argument’s sake that everything may very well be a dream. But if so, then there
is still some knowledge to be had from within the dream itself. In other words,
although we can doubt that all images and ideas that we experience in our
dreams refer to some outward reality, we nevertheless can consider them in
their simple components to see if any of them might be true in themselves.
After dismissing all simple components which are based on senses, such as
color, sound, etc., Descartes arrived at the simple truths of mathematics. The
truth, for example, that 2 + 2 = 4 does not rely on any sensible experience but
is grasped entirely in our minds regardless of whether we are dreaming or
awake. It would seem, then, that Descartes has reached a clear and distinct
idea, one which is beyond all doubt. For we can say outwardly in words that 2 +
2 = 5, but we cannot really think in our minds that it equals anything but 4.
The
final step in Descartes’s methodic doubt is what is often referred to as
“hyperbolic doubt.” Recall that Descartes is searching for a truth that is
beyond any doubt, even the slightest. For this reason, if one can offer a
possible explanation, even if it is implausible or far-fetched, then it casts
doubt upon the belief and makes it uncertain. So how can we doubt that 2 + 2
does not really equal 4, if whenever we think 2 + 2, our minds must necessarily
admit that it equals 4? Here Descartes introduced what he called the “evil
genius” or “malicious deceiver.” He hypothesized that perhaps there is a malicious
god who enjoys deceiving us. Although we always think 2 + 2 = 4, perhaps this
god is really tricking us and in reality it equals 5. Descartes likens this to
situations where we are “absolutely” confident regarding our belief about a
certain fact or state-of-affairs; and yet despite this confidence we often
discover later that we were mistaken. The same might hold for our mathematical
truths in which some evil god is deceiving us.
These
three steps completed Descartes’s methodic doubt in which he attempted to clear
his mind of all previous beliefs in order to found truths that are beyond
doubt. The remainder of the Meditations was devoted to this task and by
the end of it Descartes claims to have demonstrated beyond doubt the certainty
of both the human mind (or Cogito) and the existence of God. These, then, were
the foundational, philosophical truths that all our other knowledge can be
built upon. Other modern philosophers who follow Descartes, though not using
the same steps as his, often employ a methodic doubt as well in their search for a
philosophical foundation for all truth and knowledge.
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