Experimental Decartes

Michael Alan Reuben

Much like a scientist, Rene Descartes presented the necessary steps in order to provide cogency for an experiment. Descartes experiment was to utilize hyperbolic doubt to reach absolute certitude in his beliefs. He first presented a problem, that his opinions of reality were false. He then offered the hypothesis that the reason for this was reliance upon the senses. Finally Descartes offered a procedure to test the hypothesis. This procedure was a rejection of all previous sense-based beliefs. If his ideas did not prove to be true, still they remained cogent in position. In order to accomplish this I will show that Descartes uses the scientific method, by first showing he presents a problem, then a hypothesis, and finally a procedure to prove the hypothesis.

Descartes first proposed his problem. He ultimately believed that it is in man's nature to strive to discover the truth. However, when he reflected upon his own opinions of the truth he noticed his beliefs were flawed. Descartes elaborated that his opinions were all based upon foundational opinions rooted in deception and thus which could not be held in absolute certitude. Because of this, Descartes said that all of his opinions could not be held in absolute certitude.

Descartes then quickly pointed out the reasons why these opinions and foundational opinions were false. He first blamed the senses. He first indicted them by saying, "surely whatever I had admitted until now as most true I received either from the senses or through the senses" (AT18). He further claimed that the senses are deceptive. Using the example of dreams, Descartes displayed how the senses constantly offer us a false truth. Descartes, in his dream, was falsely lead to believe, that he was next to the fire, fully dressed, and writing, when in fact because of his dreaming he was asleep, in his pajamas, in bed. Furthermore, examining the validity of ideas, Descartes believed that even though our perception of what a hand is may be incorrect, the idea of a hand is true. He, also, used the example of the artist creating a fictitious creature. The artist will still use legs and eyes and hands, because the ideas of those objects are true. Therefore, He said that there are some things which the senses could not deceive us about.

Then Descartes extended his attack of his own opinions by extending the blame of deception all the way to God. He defended this by saying "I will suppose not a supremely good God, the source of truth, but rather an evil genius, supremely powerful and clever, who has directed his entire effort at deceiving me" (AT22). With this added blame, Descartes was allowed to ultimately reject all of his opinions of the truth. However, Descartes' blame of God disproved that ideas of things can be true. Since God allows us to be deceived, according to Descartes, He is the creator of our deception. Furthermore, since He is all-powerful, He is able to deceive us even with the ideas of truth. God can make us believe that the ideas of hands are true when that idea really is not. This is something the senses are not able to do.

Since the senses and God give doubt to all of the opinions of Descartes, and it is in man's nature to strive for the truth; Descartes searched for a solution to his problem. He offered only two steps; "I [must] raze everything to the ground and begin again from the original foundations" (AT17). Descartes believed that he had to completely start anew with his opinions, because at some point in the formation of his beliefs the senses and God got in the way of scientific proof. Because of this he had to erase all of his previous beliefs, and find the truth outside of the senses. He explained that his previous beliefs extended to the foundation of his opinions as well, and that would be a much easier way to proceed. He explained that if you are able to expunge a foundational opinion, any opinion based on that may be discarded as well, as it is based on a falsehood. Through this procedure that Descartes explains, he solidifies the cogency of his argument by using the scientific method

Because of his scientific reasoning Descartes offered a very cogent argument for hyperbolic doubt. First he acknowledged his problem. He explained that what he knew was not the truth, or could not be proven as the truth. He then found reasons why the problem exists. He showed how both the senses and God mislead him to believe certain falsehoods as the truth. Finally he created a procedure to test this hypothesis, but if the hypothesis was true, solve the problem as well. To do this Descartes rejected all opinions based on the information he received from the senses and what he received from God. Descartes' strict compliance with the scientific method allows his methodology presented in Meditations I to be cogent, if not proven true.