Descartes' Meditation One

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one was, as Descartes writes,
“..insane, whose brains are impaired by such an unrelenting vapor of black
bile..” that they believe they are something other than what they are, would one
doubt reality, without an argument. The argument is as follows: If the
experience of a dream is indistinguishable between that dream and reality; and
there is no test to differentiate between dreaming and awakens, then one must
doubt the world outside their minds. This is so because even if one believes
they are awake and perceiving their surroundings soundly, they have no way of
knowing for certain that they are not, at that moment, dreaming. Still this
argument is not sufficient in Descartes' quest to doubt “everything”. This is so
because even when we are dreaming we still know certain undeniable truths or a
priori knowledge, these are facts such as a5 + b5 = c5 (in a right triangle) or
that triangles have three sides.
Descartes then begins to entertain the idea of a God who created all
things, ...

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