by Matt Mortensen

Created on: April 30, 2007   Last Updated: November 04, 2009

Wiping the Slate Clean
Belief Validation a la Rene Descartes

In his Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes discusses the importance of validating all belief. According to his philosophy, it is impossible to truly validate any belief without completely abandoning all prior opinions and personally-held truths. By so doing, Descartes aims to purify the mind in preparation for the reception of real truth, but he contradicts himself in the explanation of his theory. Lastly, the concept of an unbiased mind is impossible to attain, because it is overly idealistic to assume that one can completely set aside the bias of one's personal beliefs that have been established over a lifetime.

In the first meditation of his Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes states that many of the opinions he established in his youth are very likely false. As a result, many of his subsequent opinions are built upon a false foundation. Therefore, in order to establish a foundation upon which to validate his beliefs, he must apply himself to what he calls a "general demolition of [his] opinions" (p. 59). Descartes states:

"And thus I realized that once in my life I had to raze everything to the ground and begin again from the original foundations, if I wanted to establish anything firm and lasting in the sciences" (p. 59).

To completely abandon all of one's opinions is no easy task. Descartes himself acknowledges the difficulty of such an endeavor. However, he emphasizes that the point is not to show that all of his opinions are false. His intent is simply to "withhold [his] assent" from all of his opinions, whether slightly doubtful or obviously false. Any existing degree of plausible doubt would be sufficient reason to completely disregard an opinion.

Descartes also admits that it would be a never-ending task to assess each of his opinions individually. Therefore, he reasons that he can demolish all of his opinions simply by "attacking" those that serve as the foundation of his beliefs.

The intent of this general demolition of opinions is to arrive at a comprehensive system for validating beliefs. Descartes believes this system will make possible more valid interpretation of all subsequent beliefs, as he will withhold his assent from all but the most "indubitable" opinions.

In his first meditation, Descartes makes it sound all too easy to wipe his mind clean of opinions. He states:

"I have today suitably freed my mind of all cares, secured for myself

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>