Introduction to Philosophy

Lecture XIII
Skepticism and the Appearance/Reality
Gap — Part I
Dr. Daniel Kaufman
College of Continuing Education & The Extended University
Missouri State University
Lecture XIII Skepticism and the Appearance/Reality Gap — Part I

René Descartes
Meditations on First Philosophy
• Chief question: What are the foundations of human
knowledge?
• Leads Descartes to question every one of his beliefs and their
method of justification.
• Motivations
• The Scientific Revolution's conception of rationality; critique of
the concept of intellectual authority.
Lecture XIII Skepticism and the Appearance/Reality Gap — Part I

• Recall: According to the "naïve" Empiricist, all

substantive knowledge begins with sensory experience,
i.e. with "ideas of sensation," as Locke calls them.
• For example: I believe that there is a podium in front of
me. On the Lockean view, this belief is justified by my
sensory experience: by seeing and feeling the podium.
• In the first Meditation Descartes raises doubts as to
whether any sensory experience — like seeing and
feeling a podium — is sufficient to justify the belief that
any object exists.
Lecture XIII Skepticism and the Appearance/Reality Gap — Part I

Two assumptions in the First Meditation:

Our senses are not always reliable; do not always depict
things as they are.
• Recall that Locke's basic picture of perception has already
set up an "appearance/reality" gap.
• Descartes' point, however, is a stronger one that speaks to
the ever-present possibility of an actual perceptual error.
• Examples: a straight pencil, half immersed in a glass of
water will appear bent; things look smaller from a distance.
Lecture XIII Skepticism and the Appearance/Reality Gap — Part I

Two assumptions in the First Meditation:

An even greater problem is the fact that our experience
while dreaming can be indistinguishable from our
experience while awake. This raises the question of
whether any sensory experience is ever a sufficient
reason to believe that anything exists at all. (p. 13)
Lecture XIII Skepticism and the Appearance/Reality Gap — Part I

Where We Currently Stand:

(1) I believe there is a podium in front of me.
(2) I see and feel a podium in front of me.
• The empiricist's idea is that (2) is supposed to justify (1).
However, doubts have been raised as to the validity of sense experience.
• (1) only follows (2) if we also assume: (3), I am neither dreaming nor
suffering from faulty perception.
• But what justifies (3)? Obviously not sense experience, since it is
precisely the validity of sense experience that is being questioned.
• What Descartes has shown is that knowledge cannot begin with sense
experience; that "naïve" Empiricism is false.
Lecture XIII Skepticism and the Appearance/Reality Gap — Part I

Descartes considers another possibility:

• Descartes has demonstrated that "Ideas of sensation"
cannot provide the ultimate grounds of human
knowledge.
• Perhaps deductive reasoning/proofs, rather than sense
experience, are the ultimate grounds of human
knowledge?
• Deductive proofs do not rely on sense experience for their
validity, so they avoid the problems Descartes has
identified thus far.
Lecture XIII Skepticism and the Appearance/Reality Gap — Part I

For example:
(1A) I believe that the square of the hypotenuse of a triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of its
legs.
(2A) [Proof of the Pythagorean Theorem; see links]. This is supposed to justify (1A).
* What justifies my belief in the truth of (2A)? How do I know that I have done the proof correctly? Or
that I am not being manipulated by some malicious third party to think that (1A) and (2A) are valid,
when they really are not? (p. 15)
† (2A) only provides a valid basis on which to believe (1A) if the following is also true.
† (3A) I have done the proof correctly, and I am not being manipulated by a malicious third party.
‡ What could justify (3A)? Not a deductive proof, since what is at question is the validity of our
deductive proofs. Obviously not perceptual experience, since this has already been called into question
— without a solution — in (1)–(3).
‡ Thus, Descartes has also shown that deductive proofs cannot provide the grounds for human
knowledge.
Lecture XIII Skepticism and the Appearance/Reality Gap — Part I

Descartes begins Meditation Two in a mood of

despair. It is unclear that human knowledge has
any rational grounds. This is a devastating
conclusion for me, since he is such a believer in
human rationality and in the Enlightenment.
Lecture XIII Skepticism and the Appearance/Reality Gap — Part I

Next time: Meditation Two and Descartes'

attempt to solve the puzzle of the foundations
of human knowledge.
Things to think about while you read:
• Descartes says that we cannot doubt the belief "I
exist." Explain.
• What is the relevant difference (i.e. vis-à-vis our
subject) between the belief that I see a table and the
belief that I seem to see a table?