Re: Descartes and Certainty
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Proofs that I exist and that the world exists aren’t necessary. Just assume it. And get to the meat of philosophy. Where actually important things are discussed.
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While I'm pretty sure you're aware of this, Descartes wasn't actually considering the possibility that he didn't exist. One of the basic problems of philosophy is that pretty much anything has to be based on an assumption somewhere. Usually, this is the assumption that the world and what we see is real. If pressed, no philosopher can give up indisputable "proof" of this. This is what Descartes was trying to do, and if he had succeeded, he would have revolutionized philosophy, possibly to the point that most of the great questions could be answered (in this case the existence of God). I think that counts as pretty meaty philosophy, just as molecular biology is pretty meaty science.
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