Belief Through Doubt: A Rationalist Approach to Knowledge Anonymous College

The beginning of the 17th century was a period marked by ideological upheaval. Previously, the Catholic Church and religious orthodoxy were the standard of knowledge, perpetuating the Aristotelian model on society and persecuting any objections as heresy. However, the scientific revolution in combination with the Protestant Reformation progressively undermined the credibility of the church and disrupted the basis for the possibility of rational religious belief. In response, Rene Descartes stood as a fierce rationalist who believed in the value of logic and reason in the pursuit of knowledge. In a time where many philosophers prior supported their arguments with appeals to God and religious orthodoxy, Rene Descartes refused to accept knowledge based off anything other than logical merit. Descartes does this through his Meditations, a treatise wherein he uses doubt to test presuppositions about topics such as true knowledge, the state of being, and the existence of God. As such, Descartes does not expound upon arbitrary ideas, but rather takes the reader on a connected journey from the idea of knowledge itself to the proof that God exists. In doing so, however, Descartes earned many critics who argued against his views; more...