Rationalism and justification of knowledge in Rene Descartes
1.0 Introduction Over the years, the nature of reality, knowing, thinking and believing has constituted puzzling issues which epistemology attempts to grapple with. Issues cutting across what can we know, what is the nature and scope of human knowledge, what can be known with certainty, how do we acquire knowledge, how can we know what is when we come across it, what can be left to faith or opinion to decide, as well as the proper source of knowledge preoccupied the philosophical and at the same time, the epistemological thought of philosophers. In this connection, different schools of thought have come to limelight notably among them are scepticism, rationalism, and empiricism.
For instance, scepticism poses a problem by arguing that knowledge is impossible, that we cannot know anything for sure. To resolve this issue, rationalism puts forward that the process of reasoning is the surest path to knowledge, whereas empiricism says that knowledge is acquired through sense experience. But, “is knowledge actually got through sense experience?” or “is it acquired through the process of reasoning?” or perhaps, is it impossible for us to know? These questions arise owing to the fact that our claims to knowledge are in need of justification for they are challenged by scepticism; doubts about our knowledge claims and doubts about the evidences that support our knowledge claims.
It is in recognition of this that Rene Descartes entitled his magnus opus the Discourse on Method and Meditations. And it is also the reason why he insisted that reason is the ultimate court of appeal whereby our knowledge claims can come to rest and, in fact, be justified. In the light of the foregoing, this essay shall bring to center-stage rationalism and the justification of knowledge in Rene Descartes. To do this, this essay shall pay attention to the basic tenets of rationalism, Descartes’ viewpoint on rationalism and the justification of knowledge, and rationalism beyond Descartes. This
For instance, scepticism poses a problem by arguing that knowledge is impossible, that we cannot know anything for sure. To resolve this issue, rationalism puts forward that the process of reasoning is the surest path to knowledge, whereas empiricism says that knowledge is acquired through sense experience. But, “is knowledge actually got through sense experience?” or “is it acquired through the process of reasoning?” or perhaps, is it impossible for us to know? These questions arise owing to the fact that our claims to knowledge are in need of justification for they are challenged by scepticism; doubts about our knowledge claims and doubts about the evidences that support our knowledge claims.
It is in recognition of this that Rene Descartes entitled his magnus opus the Discourse on Method and Meditations. And it is also the reason why he insisted that reason is the ultimate court of appeal whereby our knowledge claims can come to rest and, in fact, be justified. In the light of the foregoing, this essay shall bring to center-stage rationalism and the justification of knowledge in Rene Descartes. To do this, this essay shall pay attention to the basic tenets of rationalism, Descartes’ viewpoint on rationalism and the justification of knowledge, and rationalism beyond Descartes. This
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