Rene Descartes 1596-1650 Rene Descartes 1596-1650

B. Outline to Preliminary Discussion of Ideas:1. I have ideas that are like images of things. The most common cause of error is thejudgment that these ideas are similar to things that exist outside of me.2. There are three possible types of ideas: innate, those that originate in myself, andthose that originate from something outside of me.3. Even though some ideas of apparent external objects come to me against my will, Icannot regard them as corresponding to external things. This is because:a. I may have some faculty which produces these ideas.b. Even if they come from outside me, I have no guarantee that they are similar totheir causes.4. Therefore, the principle upon which I have judged my ideas to be similar to externalobjects seems to be mistaken.82