Methodic Doubt: The Cartesian Method of Philosophy

August 23, 2021August 23, 2021MyInfo Basket.com 9 CommentsCogito ergo sum, Methodic Doubt, Methodic doubt description, Methodic doubt importance, Methodic doubt in everyday life, methodic doubt of rene descartes, Methodic doubt reflection, What is methodic doubt, What is methodic doubt in philosophy?

What is methodic doubt of Rene Descartes? Obviously, the “Methodic Doubt” is also called Cartesian Philosophy because it was introduced by French philosopher and mathematician Rene Descartes (1596-1650), dubbed as the “Father of Modern Philosophy.”

In one of his lectures, Filipino Philosophy professor and textbook author Jensen DG. Mañebog explains the methodic doubt of Rene Descartes in the following manner:

The Methodic Doubt is a systematic process of withholding acceptance as to the truth or falsehood of beliefs until they were demonstrated or rationally proven to be true or false. It is a philosophical process of doubting or being skeptical about the truth of a person’s beliefs. It

Basically, the Methodic Doubt is a way of looking for certainty—for certain, indubitable truths—by methodically, although tentatively, doubting everything.

Methodic Doubt: Doubting Everything

Rene Descartes answer’ to the epistemological question “How can I know?” is to doubt everything. He believed that only after doubting that a person can uncover certainty.

Utilizing this methodic doubt, Rene Descartes attempted to demonstrate philosophical truths, which he believed could defeat the most radical doubt or skepticism. Indeed, this method intends to lead us to truth and wisdom.

What Descartes did was categorize all statements according to type and source of knowledge: (a) knowledge from experience or empirical knowledge, (b) knowledge from tradition or authority, and (c) mathematical knowledge.

What is methodic doubt?

Using the Methodic Doubt, propositions from each class are scrutinized, that if a way can be thought to doubt the truth of any statement, then all other statements of that class are also dismissed as dubitable, though not necessarily false.

The method does not pronounce that all, or even that any, statements in a dubitable class are categorically false or that we must or can distrust them in an ordinary sense. Instead, the method calls that all statements and types of knowledge that are not indubitably true be classified as conceivably or imaginably (but not necessarily) false.

Rene Descartes supposed that by eliminating all statements and types of knowledge whose truth can be doubted in any way, we will find some indubitable certainties or truths that cannot be doubted.

So Descartes held that we cannot completely depend on experience as source of knowledge. He explained that experience, being based on sensation, is deceiving. For instance, one cannot assure that what he experiences now is reality and not just a dream, because sensations while dreaming and sensations when one is awake are hard to tell apart.

Also, the knowledge from tradition and authority must be doubted since they can be deceptive. Traditions can be mere convention and culturally relative while no authority is infallible.

Descartes believed that mathematical knowledge, too, must be doubted, for all we know two times two is in fact six and not four, and we are merely controlled by a malevolent demon or a scheming god.

Methodic Doubt: Cogito ergo sum

Nevertheless, Rene Descartes discovered certainty in the fact that since he doubts, he thus exists. Hence, his well-known dictum, “Cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am).

Descartes believed that a person cannot doubt that he thinks, because when he doubts, he in effect thinks, since doubting is a form of thinking. From this, Descartes inferred that a person thinking must be existing, since there has to be somebody existent doing the process called thinking.

So what can we learn from the Methodic Doubt as a philosophical method that leads to truth and wisdom? This Cartesian Method or Philosophy is teaching us to doubt everything until what is left is already beyond doubt. By teaching us not to settle for knowledge that are dubious, the method is teaching us to be cautious and meticulous.

To better understand this method of philosophy, compare it to Socratic Method: The Elenchus

Note: Teachers may share this as a reading assignment of their students. For other free lectures like this (especially for students), visit Homepage: Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

*Free lectures on the subject Pambungad sa Pilosopiya ng Tao

Philosophy of Man Articles:

Distinguish Opinion from Truth

Do a philosophical reflection on a concrete situation from a holistic perspective

Realize the Value of Doing Philosophy in Obtaining a Broad Perspective on Life

Distinguish a Holistic Perspective from a Partial Point of View (Holism vs Partial Perspective)

The Blind Men and the Elephant: Attaining a Holistic Perspective

Mga Libreng Lektura para sa Pambungad sa Pilosopiya ng Tao:

Nakikilala ang pagkakaiba ng katotohanan sa opinyon

Karanasan na nagpapakita ng pagkakaiba ng katotohanan sa opinyon lamang

Ang Pagkakaiba ng Pangkabuuang Pananaw at Pananaw ng mga Bahagi Lamang

Ang Halaga ng Pamimilosopiya sa Pagkakaroon ng Malawakang pananaw