Report on Descartes objectives in the Meditations. Includes personal comment

Descartes overall objective in the Meditations is to question knowledge. To explore such metaphysical issues as the existence of God and the separation of mind and body, it was important for him to distinguish what we can know as truth. He believed that reason as opposed to experience was the source for discovering what is of absolute certainty. In my explication, I will examine meditation two in order to discover why knowledge was so important …

…I have attempted to see his arguments, and tried to come to my own conclusions. The mere fact that Descartes found so many certainties in the Meditations is surprising. It is not always easy to find a hypothesis that stands up to doubt. The Meditations have taught me to be open minded, and to acknowledge that sometimes we make mistakes. However, if we take caution and use reason carefully we are capable of finding certainty.