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Meditation One
Meditation One
Meditations as an UR text
(grounding/fund'l/originating text) in philosophy:
privileges the scientific framework
twists the religious framework
attacks the common sense framework
b) Watch both the content & the literary structure of the
Meditations:
1) first-person perspective
2) confessional format: "I lost my faith, but then found it again"
3) 6 meditations is a trade on the religious framework in Genesis: it
took God six days to create the world, and Descartes six meditations to
establish a firm foundation for our knowledge of it.
NONE.
Epistemic Vertigo.
Maximus scepticus.
Cognitive despair sets in.
The Plan of the Meditations
1. Use the method of doubt (EDH) to find a criterion for absolute
knowledge (by isolating some belief that cannot be doubted)
2. Use that criterion to discover some true beliefs that can be joined
in arguments that logically establish conclusions that defeat evil
demon skepticism skepticism.
How to do That:
A. prove God exists as the creator of the world and my mind and all
its powers. (Med. III)
B. prove that God is not a deceiver (is not an Evil Demon that
would mislead me in my belief-forming practices) (Med IV)
C. prove that all mathematical truths are instances of absolute
knowledge. (Med V)
D. prove that these truths describe the real nature of any possible
world consisting of bodies in space. (Med V)