more from this thinker     |     more from this text

Single Idea 3606

[filed under theme 13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 4. Foundationalism / a. Foundationalism ]

Full Idea

My whole plan had for its aim simply to give me assurance, and the rejection of shifting ground and sand in order to find rock or clay.

Gist of Idea

I was searching for reliable rock under the shifting sand

Source

René Descartes (A Discourse on Method [1637], §3.29)

Book Ref

Descartes,René: 'Discourse on Method/The Meditations', ed/tr. Sutcliffe,F.E. [Penguin 1968], p.50

A Reaction

I take this to be characteristic of an age when religion is being quietly rocked by the revival of ancient scepticism. If he'd settled for fallibilism, our civilization would have gone differently.

The 16 ideas with the same theme [claim that knowledge foundations are possible]:

2081 Maybe primary elements can be named, but not receive a rational account [Plato]
24021 The method starts with clear intuitions, followed by a process of deduction [Descartes]
3606 I was searching for reliable rock under the shifting sand [Descartes]
2247 To achieve good science we must rebuild from the foundations [Descartes]
2255 Only one certainty is needed for progress (like a lever's fulcrum) [Descartes]
5033 Nothing should be taken as certain without foundations [Leibniz]
6556 If anything is to be probable, then something must be certain [Lewis,CI]
3597 Foundations need not precede other beliefs [Wittgenstein]
8790 The 'doctrine of the given' is correct; some beliefs or statements are self-justifying [Chisholm]
8841 Modern foundationalists say basic beliefs are fallible, and coherence is relevant [Cleve]
4255 Externalist theories of knowledge are one species of foundationalism [Bonjour]
2752 Foundationalism requires inferential and non-inferential justification [Dancy,J]
2771 Foundationalists must accept not only the basic beliefs, but also rules of inference for further progress [Dancy,J]
8849 Traditional foundationalism is radically internalist [Williams,M]
3753 Foundationalism aims to avoid an infinite regress [Bernecker/Dretske]
19678 Strong foundationalism needs strict inferences; weak version has induction, explanation, probability [Kvanvig]