Descartes" role of the first meditation is to doubt many things. ... He questions the concepts of how does one really know if he is dreaming or if he is awake. ... Descartes discards the senses as a reliable source of truth and as an indicator of an object's existence. ... There are still some necessary truths which remain the same both dreaming and waking, and it is these that Descartes shall attempt to uncover. ... While we can doubt studies based on composite things, like medicine, astronomy, or physics, he concludes that we cannot doubt studies based on simple things, like arithmet...

• Word Count: 419
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School