What is the purpose of Descartes’s method of radical doubt
In Meditation 1 Descartes introduces his method of radical doubt. Write an essay responding to the following questions:
1) What is the purpose of Descartes’s method of radical doubt? What is Descartes attempting to discover and why?
2) What is the method of Descartes’s method of radical doubt?
3) What are the steps of Descartes\’s method of radical doubt through which he doubts a) what we have been taught, b) what our five senses tell us, c) our first person experience of our personal identity and bodies, and d) mathematics?
4) What is the purpose of the evil demon thought experiment and how does it relate to mathematics?
5) In Meditation 2, what, according to Descartes is the first thing we can know with certainty and why is this certain (remember, something that is certain is impossible to be mistaken).
What argument does he present to show we can be certain of this? To complete this assignment you will need to read Descartes Meditations 1 – 2 and Lecture 8.
Your essay should not discuss or make reference to the historical context of Lecture 7. The majority of your essay should be in your own words, however, you may quote from Meditations 1 and 2 and Lecture 7.
If you do quote from this material you must first introduce the author (According to Descartes, \”…\” (Meditations, pg. x), or According to Professor Bryant, \”…\” (Lecture 7, pg. 3).
You must then explain the quote in your own words.
Failure to do this is plagiarism and will be reported to the Dean of Students for an investigation.
If found guilty you will receive a grade of zero for the exam and be required to count it towards your final grade (you will not be permitted to drop it at the end of the semester).
Your essay should be 600 – 900 words long.
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