1. Descartes' entire philosophical theory is based upon systematic doubt. This approach at the world is certainly different from the majority of Descartes' predecessors. You asked for context, so here it is. Prior to thinkers such as Descartes, most philosophers (and especially theologians) emphasized a belief in something, rather than knowledge about that thing. Descartes' thinking comes after what is now known as the Epistemic Turn. The Epistemic Turn refers to the point in time when philosophers (and others) began to stress the knowledge of something rather than the belief in something. From this mode of thinking, Descartes sought to establish a starting point; he sought to find that one thing that could never be doubted. Therefore, doubt everything until you find the one thing that you know is absolutely and necessarily true. Descartes sought to begin again from the foundations.
Well that sets the stage for this excerpt. Descartes proposes a wild concept. Up until......
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