Descartes: The Project of Pure Inquiry

Bernard Williams's Descartes: The Project of Pure Inquiry examines René Descartes's philosophical method, particularly his use of methodic doubt. Descartes systematically doubted all beliefs to find certain knowledge, famously concluding "I think, therefore I am" (cogito, ergo sum). This foundational certainty, derived from intuition rather than deduction, aimed to establish a new basis for knowledge.12345

Williams also explores Descartes's concept of the "absolute conception" of reality, representing an objective, human-independent view of the world. The work delves into Descartes's dualism of mind and matter and his rationalist approach, which posits knowledge derived from innate ideas through reason, contrasting with empiricism.678