Doubt is an actiona reaction presented in our lives since infantryinfancy, and we continue to use it every day, such as while learning in school, conversing, and engaging in relationships. René Descartes, a meditator in the 15th century, used the method of doubt to respond to sceptics. Descartes’sDescartes’ method for approaching doubt was to doubt everything in order to understand what cannot be doubted, and is therefore true. His goal was to find certainty in his beliefs, because certainty is the only answer to existence (Descartes, 2000: 23). Descartes’sDescartes’ method of doubt can respondresponded to sceptics through his discovery of a “thinking thing” (Descartes, 2000: 25) and understanding what actually exists.
Descartes
Descartes' approach to doubt in response to sceptics was discovered in meditations two. Scepticism can be defined in various ways, although I am analyzing the concept of total scepticism, or the ability to prove nothing can exist (Lindsay 2017). In order to prove something can exist, Descartes used meditations one to test what could be doubted. He concluded that our senses and imagination have deceiveddeceive us, such as visual illusions and dreams, thus he was able to provide evidence of doubt.