Understanding Descartes: Philosophy, Methods, and Historical Context
Exploring Descartes’ Philosophy
René Descartes, a renowned philosopher and mathematician, championed rationalism, the belief that we can deduce a system of truths about the world from innate principles and self-evident axioms. This pursuit of knowledge is grounded in the universal validity of reason and the certainty it provides to the rational subject. Descartes accepted as valid only knowledge with absolute certainty.
The Cartesian Method
Descartes employed the Cartesian method to attain indubitable truths, starting with methodical doubt to arrive at innate and self-evident principles. This method comprises several phases:
- Starting Point: The pursuit of absolute truth, following the mathematical model.
- Methodical Doubt: Removing everything susceptible to doubt, including:
- Sensory experiences, as they can be misleading.
- The distinction between sleeping and waking (how do we know we’re not dreaming?).
- The existence of perceived things.
- The possibility of a deceiving entity (evil spirit).
- The potential inherent fallibility of the human mind.
Descartes dismantled these skeptical arguments.
Skepticism and the First Truth
Descartes also utilized skepticism. After doubting all mental contents, he initially believed certainty was unattainable. However, through methodical doubt, he discovered the indubitable truth of self-doubt: I think, therefore I am (Cogito, ergo sum). This establishes the existence of the thinking subject as the first absolute truth.
Criterion of Certainty and the External World
The next step is the criterion of certainty, derived from the first truth. Whatever reason perceives with the same clarity and distinction as the first truth is accepted as true. This leads to the second absolute truth: the existence of the external world. Descartes distinguishes three types of ideas: adventitious (from sensory experience), factitious (constructed by imagination), and innate (developed by the mind from reason’s potential), which form the basis of absolute truths about the external world.
The Existence of God
Descartes argues that the idea of God can only be innate, demonstrating this through two arguments:
- Ontological Argument: Based on the idea of God, not experience.
- Causation Argument: Applying the principle of causality to the idea of infinity, identified with God. The idea of an infinite being requires an infinite cause, which is God.
Since God exists and is good and true, He guarantees the validity of our ideas about the external world, comprised of res extensa (extension and movement), res cogitans (thinking substance), and the infinite res identified with God.
Descartes thus establishes philosophical truth through reason, modeling philosophy and mathematics on axiomatic systems and deductive reasoning.
Historical and Socio-Cultural Context
17th Century Europe
Descartes lived during the 17th century, a period of significant change in Europe, marking the establishment of Modernity, characterized by the autonomy of reason and philosophy. Key historical factors include:
- The formation of hereditary monarchies.
- The religious crisis of the Protestant Reformation.
- The rise of the middle class.
Socio-Cultural Changes
- The emergence of vernacular languages in writing, although Latin persisted in universities.
- The development of treatises expressing personal thoughts.
- Increased interest in philosophy among the intelligentsia.
- Advances in physics influencing philosophy.
Philosophical Framework
Rationalism and Empiricism
Modern European philosophy begins with Descartes and Hobbes. Rationalism, alongside empiricism, signified the triumph and independence of reason. Both philosophies, inheriting aspects from the Renaissance, aimed to develop systematic explanations of reality using the mathematical method. They addressed the origin of knowledge: are ideas innate or learned?
The Quest for Certainty
In late 16th-century France, amidst prevailing skepticism, the quest for certainty based solely on reason began. Rationalists sought a worldview grounded in the security of reason, rejecting mysticism or feelings. Their ideal was to deduce a system of truths from innate principles, following mathematical reasoning, eliminating subjectivity. Reason was considered the primary faculty for attaining true knowledge, often undervaluing experience.
Characteristics of Rationalism
- Emulation of mathematics for its clarity and methodological simplicity.
- Deductive derivation of truths from self-evident axioms.
- Pursuit of universal and necessary truths.
- Defense of nativism, the belief in innate ideas.
Reason was also applied to social functioning, seeking universal social laws, laying the foundations for the Modern Age.