Descartes' Skeptical Argument And Reponses By Bouwsma And Malcolm

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mathematics that we were able
to make sense of our world, and that the ability to think mathematically was an
innate ability of all human beings. This theory becomes important in Descartes'
Meditations because he is forced to explain where the mathematical ideas that he
believed we were born with came from. Having discussed Descartes' background, I
will now explain the specifics of his argument.
The basis of Descartes' entire argument is that the senses can not be
trusted, and his objective is to reach a point of certainty, one undeniable
truth that fixes our existence. He said it best in his own words, "I will . . .
apply myself earnestly and openly to the general destruction of my former
opinions."1 By opinions he meant all the facts and notions about the world
which he had previously held as truths. Any point which had even the slightest
hint of doubt was discarded and considered completely false. Descartes decided
that he would consider all things until he found that ...

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that such obvious
truths can fall under the suspicions of falsity."3 Even when we are dreaming,
the laws of mathematics and geometry hold true, but they can not be Descartes'
point of certainty for a simple reason; these abilities that Descartes believed
were innate still had to come from somewhere. If they are in our heads when we
are born, someone had to put them there. Descartes' question is who, and he
comes up with two possibilities.
One possibility is that our inherent mathematical abilities are the gift of
a benign creator, a gift of God. As a supremely good being, he would not allow
us to be deceived, and mathematical processes would be a point of certain ...

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