Choose one of the four topics given (Philosophy Class) Essay - 1

Choose one of the four topics given (Philosophy Class) - Essay Example In such a way, Descartes’ endeavor was a mission of knowledge, and to find that one, or many, â€Å"clear and distinct† and â€Å"perfectly certain† belief on which he could construct an entire deductive framework, reintroduce his previous beliefs with a proper justificatory structure, and construct new truths out of pure reason. To speak of Descartes’ skepticism is to speak of nothing at all; we must instead speak of the skepticism which Descartes set out to disprove, and the intellectual context in which he resolved to write the Meditations on First Philosophy. Only by understanding this context and evaluating it accordingly will we properly understand the types of themes emphasized throughout his magnum opus. In terms of the 17th century context of the Meditations we see quite clearly two major intellectual paradigm shifts. Both of these shifts presented deep challenges to the Catholic orthodoxy which had dominated for centuries throughout the Middle Ages, and troubled the Catholic Frenchman Renà © Descartes. The first was Galileo’s â€Å"new science† of induction—contrasted with the Scholastic pure deductive system. Galileo raised the doubt that what we think we see we might not really see at all. The colors of objections, for instance, seemed to be more in a person’s mind than in the objects. Descartes’ worry was that if we could be misled by something as fundamental as basic perceptive qualities, could we not be mistaken about much else besides? Or, more broadly, could we be mistaken globally; that is, about all beliefs and perceptions? Descartes consequently turns to creating his Meditations with pure reason, and not the empiricist epistemology of the Aristotelian Scholastics (Solomon). This is one way in which the historical context inexorably shaped Descartes’ methodological skepticism. Another event which both worried him and