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Write a 1-2-page explanation of the Cartesian Method and identify some of the potential problems with, and appeal of, this approach. Try to illustrate key aspects of this method with your own examples

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The Cartesian Method of Thought

Rene Descartes, a prominent figure of the Enlightenment, was a French philosopher who is dubbed as the 'Father of modern Western Philosophy." His Cartesian method is based on the notion of 'doubt' - a position of skepticism that questioned what the senses perceive. This 'doubting' follows a systematic process that arrested and analyzed the truth of the belief that a person holds so that when the process if finished, and the belief is infallible, it can be declared as valid/true. The following are the basic strategies (Kemerling, 2011): "The basic strategy of Descartes's method of doubt is to defeat skepticism on its own ground. Begin by doubting the truth of everything—not only the evidence of the senses and the more extravagant cultural presuppositions, but even the fundamental process of reasoning itself. If any particular truth about the world can survive this extreme skeptical challenge, then it must be truly ...

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  • MA, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • Certificate, Geva Ulpan (via Universita Tel Aviv)
  • BA, University of the Philippines
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