Empirical Knowledge
Empirical Knowledge
This chapter examines Rene Descartes' “proof” of the existence of physical objects in Meditation VI. It analyzes why Descartes would propose to affirm particular empirical propositions when he is not perfectly certain that they are true and suggests that it is possible that he returned commonplace standards of evidence towards the end of Meditations. The chapter also explains that while Descartes wanted to establish the theoretical possibility of our knowing particular empirical propositions with perfect certainty, he also recognized that the demands of practical life will often require our settling for much less.
Keywords: physical objects, Rene Descartes, empirical propositions, Meditations, certainty
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