In the Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes attempted to establish a firm and permanent foundation for scientific knowledge. Philosophers raise the question of whether or not Descartes ' epistemological project was successful. Antoine Arnauld criticized Descartes ' project and accused him of circular reasoning. Many philosophers try to defend Descartes from this objection. However, Arnauld 's objection makes a valid criticism, which shows that Descartes ' epistemological project ultimately fails. In this paper, I will explain Descartes ' epistemic plan in the Meditations, and his discovery of indubitable beliefs to accomplish this plan. I will also present his argument for God 's existence, and explain how he uses the argument to prove that the material universe exists.
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He says the reason these beliefs are indubitable is that he can clearly and distinctly perceive them in a way that makes him certain that they cannot be doubted. Descartes (1641/2003) argues this should help him create the general principle that “whatever I perceive very clearly and distinctly is true” (p. 29). However, Descartes worries that he could be wrong about the truth of this general criterion, since he has been wrong in the past about things that he seemed to perceive clearly and distinctly. He thinks there could be a deceptive God who makes it so that he 's wrong even about things that he perceives most clearly and distinctly. For example, God could easily deceive him when he does basic arithmetic, such as 1+2, so that he gets the wrong answer every time. The mathematical principles and other things he clearly and distinctly perceives are extremely convincing though, so the general criterion of knowledge seems true to him, but the slight possibility of the existence of a deceptive God places it into doubt and makes it
He says the reason these beliefs are indubitable is that he can clearly and distinctly perceive them in a way that makes him certain that they cannot be doubted. Descartes (1641/2003) argues this should help him create the general principle that “whatever I perceive very clearly and distinctly is true” (p. 29). However, Descartes worries that he could be wrong about the truth of this general criterion, since he has been wrong in the past about things that he seemed to perceive clearly and distinctly. He thinks there could be a deceptive God who makes it so that he 's wrong even about things that he perceives most clearly and distinctly. For example, God could easily deceive him when he does basic arithmetic, such as 1+2, so that he gets the wrong answer every time. The mathematical principles and other things he clearly and distinctly perceives are extremely convincing though, so the general criterion of knowledge seems true to him, but the slight possibility of the existence of a deceptive God places it into doubt and makes it