Q&A: Does Descartes Contradict Himself?
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Does Descartes Contradict Himself?
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Descartes writes in the Meditations that without knowing that God exists and that He is not a deceiver, I cannot know anything (p. 70). But this comes after he presented the cogito, which proves that he knows of his own existence. How is this reconciled?
Answer
Good question. It may be that only after he arrives at God later on does it become clear retroactively that the knowledge of his own existence is valid. Or perhaps he distinguishes between knowledge about himself (which is evident) and knowledge about something external, which is not possible without God.