Rene Descartes 1596-1650 Rene Descartes 1596-1650

1. Doubting Sense Perception:Sometimes our senses can deceive us. For example,objects sometimes look different from a distance thanthey do close up. But generally, we take our senses tobe reliable indicators of what the world around us islike.However, since our beliefs based on sense perceptioncan deceive us, we have reason to “doubt.” If there isan alternative explanation, then we have grounds fordoubt.41