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Meditations is a discussion of metaphysics, or what is truly real. In these writings, he ultimately hopes to achieve absolute certainty about the nature of everything including God, the physical world, and himself. It is only with a clear and distinct knowledge of such things that he can then begin understand his true reality. Descartes starts by looking at our usual sources for truth. Authority, which is churches, parents, and schools, he says, are not …

…this he first must strike all that he has come to accept as false and only then start to rebuild is foundation of knowledge. To insure the integrity of his newly acquired understanding of reality, he uses the method of doubt. It is only through this method that he can grasp the true nature of reality. After establishing the existence of himself, God, and the external world through this method, Descartes feels he ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**