(There are two stages, phases to Descartes approach, the negative and the positive phase)

The negative phase: is equivalent to the second rule, the rule of analysis, the rule of breaking down
ideas into its simpler parts. Descartes would call the negative phase, the method of doubt, the method
by which he doubted all existing believes, but now the precise thing he does now, is that he gives
specific arguments, rational, he seeks knowledge that cannot be mistaken or doubted, and that is
illustrated in rule 1 (never accept an idea unless it is evident).
Descartes admits that in everyday life we take many things for granted, we assume for practical
purposes that our believes and opinions are true without questioning. But, since Descartes is seeking
certainty, he is not going to be satisfied by taking things for granted, he is going to investigate all
believes to determine if they are really true or not. So his guiding principal is that any believe and any
opinion that has a slightest doubt about should be rejected by him. With that in mind, he presented a
number of arguments to raise about believes: the first argument of doubt: the sense
deception argument, many of our believes are based on our sensory experience (for example, I
know I am wearing a blue shirt because I see it, it is an immediate sensation). However, Descartes
argues that believes are rising from our sensory experience can be actually doubted due to the
possibility of deception, he observes that our senses have deceived us all the times (for example imagine
you are looking at a stick that is placed in water, it will look bent, but once you hold it you will realize
that it is not the case. Another example, is if you are in a desert and you are thirsty and exhausted, and
you look into the horizon, it will appear to you that there is water upfront, but once you get there you
realize that it was an illusion).
 So the argument is that if the senses have deceived us, then it would be logically possible that
they would deceive us in any future time, which means that our sensory experience is not a
reliable source of knowledge and cannot be trusted. (a similar to this argument, although
perhaps its subject is different, is applied reason in math, we know that even the greatest minds
can make errors in reasoning due to imperfections is logically possible that in the future the
reasoning that individuals make, whether it is by great mind or not, could be mistakes, so even
reasoning when it comes to logic or mathematics cannot be trusted due to the possibility of
errors and mistakes.
the second argument: the dream argument: Descartes is raising the possibility that the
experience, believe that people have might not be real because they might be a dream or a part of a
dream. Descartes makes the argument by saying that humans sleep, and when human beings sleep,
they often dream, keeping that in mind Descartes makes an observation that in dreams that people have
very often the subject matter or the experience of the dreams would be similar to what people
experience in reality. (Descartes ex: he very often dreamt of himself sitting by the fireplace writing on his
papers, and this kind of dream is very similar to the things he actually performs in reality). So, if the
dreamt experiences are similar to reality then can we ever tell if experience is true or not? No, because
given the fact that we very often our dreamt experiences would be similar to the kind of experiences
that we have in reality. Therefore, according to Descartes we can never tell if we are awake, or in a
dream or not. (ex: I believe I am holding a pen in my hand, but now Descartes argument is that you
cannot ever be sure whether your believe is true or not because it could be a dream in which I am
holding a pen in my hand). So, the dream argument raises doubt about the validity of experience and
whether experience is true or not
(another argument he raises is another book is the evil demon argument or evil genius argument.
Ordinarily we believe that there is a reality outside our minds, that there are starts, moons, galaxies,
even if we did not exist, there will still be an outside world. Now Descartes even raises doubt about that,
he asks how do we know that there is a reality outside our mind, here is where the evil demon argument
comes on. The evil demon argument goes like this: what if there exists an evil being, malicious evil being
who is so bad and wicked that this being make us believe in false things, for example if he makes us
believe that there are a sun, moons, space when in fact there is not just to deceive us. So, the thing is,
can we proof that there is a sun out there? No, because it can be a false idea planted in our minds by the
evil demon)

So, Descartes through his 3 arguments of doubt, he could doubt, get rid of all believes, to doubt all
believes. So now he has reached a state of complete doubt. Descartes in his other books describes the
state that he had reached of total absence of any glimpse of hope because he had put everything into
doubt.

Descartes doesn’t stop here, he goes on to look around in his mind, to meditate and reflect on his mind
on the hope of reaching ideas that cannot be doubted. He asks:
 Is there perhaps an idea in my mind that are beyond doubt, that are immune?
Yes. The first immune idea is the first principle of the philosophy: I am thinking, therefor I exist (in Latin
it is called “Cogito ergo sum”). In other words, he reflected that he cannot possibly doubt his existence,
everything else can be doubted but his existence because if he didn’t exist he wouldn’t be able to think.
Suppose for the sake of argument you try to doubt once existence, such argument is unreasonable
because doubting is a kind of thinking, and when you doubt that you exist, you are thinking that you
don’t exist. Can there be thinking without a thinker? Can thinking happen on its own? No. the act of
thinking proves that there is somebody doing the thinking, which proves that one exists.

He goes on to make an elaboration, qualification. Descartes distinguishes two kinds of existence: the
first kind is the existence of the mind, and the second kind is the existence of the body. To exist as a
body is not the same as to exist as a mind, as a soul. In other words, you could have existing one without
the existence of the other. Descartes was one of the first to assert the dualist position, dualism is the
view that human beings are made up of two substances: mind and body, and these two substances are
not identical to each other (the brain goes with body).
 Which is immune to doubt? One’s existence as a body or one’s existence as a mind?
Only one’s existence as a mind is immune to doubt, but my existence as a body is not immune to doubt
because the essential property of mind is thinking, the essence of a mind is to think, which means that
there cannot be thinking without a mind doing the thinking and the essential characteristic of bodies is
that they take space, bodies extend in space, which means that the existence of bodies could be
doubted. So, Descartes get to this situation, where he claims that his existence as a mind cannot be
doubted, but his existence as a body could still be in doubt.

Then he says that the proposition “I am thinking, therefore I exist” cannot assure me that I am speaking
the truth, that I have a body with arms and legs, that there is a galaxy, that there are suns and moons.
All that the statement proves is that I exist as a mind, as a thinking being, but he is not yet sure about
the existence of his own body. Therefore, he has to look further into more principals that cannot be
doubted with the hope in finding these principals, he could avoid doubt.

Now Descartes is looking further in his mind to see if there are other ideas that are immune to doubt,
and he did. The next thing that found in his mind is another idea that cannot be doubted, the idea of
perfect being, which is another phrase to refer to the idea of perfection. So, the other thing that he finds
in his mind is the idea of perfection, the idea of perfect being, which means that a perfect being has all
the properties of perfection, that God is a perfect being that possess all the properties of perfection,
that God is infinitely knowing, good, and powerful.

The next step that Descartes takes is asking himself: where did I get my ability to think of something
more perfect than I am? From where did he get this idea of perfection?
The idea did not come from nothing because nothing produces nothing. Plus, the idea did not come
from the mind of Descartes, the mind of human being since Descartes is not perfect, he is not perfect
since he even doubted the existence of his own body. Which means that the only explanation of why
there is an idea of perfection in the mind of Descartes, is that there must exist a perfect being, God who
planted the idea of perfection in Descartes mind. Hadn’t it been for the existence of god, of a perfect
being, it wouldn’t have been possible for the idea of Descartes.
So the existence of God is an idea that cannot be doubted.
Now that is a crucial step because if God exists then Descartes now remove doubts about reality and his
existence as a body because if God exists and this perfect being has all the qualities of perfection (that
god is infinitely good), this means that God would not allow the possibility of doubt, of deception, of an
evil demon deceiving the minds of people because God loves and cares for the human beings. So, now
Descartes removes the possibility of the existence doubt.

So, after proving that God exist, Descartes goes on to deduce further ideas that cannot be doubted on
the basis of his existence as mind and the existence of God. He goes on to validate that Math cannot be
doubted if god existed, that the properties by which geometry describes objects cannot be doubted and
so on. Therefore, from then he goes on to validate science because they would be deduced from God’s
existence.
We can see here Descartes after doubting everything, after the negative phase, he would go on to a
positive phase, and in this positive phase knowledge and science could be reestablished on the basis of a
solid foundation which are one’s existence as a mind and God existence, and upon these solid
foundations, other truths would be deduced.