Lesson 1.4: The Method of Doubt

About this episode

The episode explores Descartes' method of doubt as a response to radical uncertainty and skepticism in early 17th-century Europe.

Descartes responds to radical uncertainty with an audacious plan: find one belief so secure that nothing—not even deception itself—can shake it. Topics Discussed: * The historical and intellectual crises of early 17th-century Europe that shaped Descartes' project * The motivation behind Descartes' method of doubt as a response to skepticism * The regress problem and why it pressures philosophers toward foundationalism * Descartes' strategy of withholding belief from anything that can be doubted * Arguments from sense deception, dreaming, and the evil demon * Why even mathematics and logic become targets of radical doubt * The search for indubitable foundations as the starting point for knowledge * How Descartes' internal, first-person approach marks a turning point in modern epistemology

People in this episode

Host: R. C. M. García

Topics covered

• radical uncertainty
• method of doubt
• skepticism
• foundationalism
• epistemology
• sense deception
• indubitable foundations

Keywords

• Descartes
• method of doubt
• radical uncertainty
• skepticism
• foundationalism
• epistemology
• sense deception
• indubitable foundations

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