Three Minute Philosophy - Descartes

Though I tend to disagree with a lot of Descartes' philosophy, even though I admire him a great deal, I've always been sympathetic to his methodological doubt, not only because it provides the prospect of a possible method for acquiring true knowledge, but because I'm frequently confronted, both in an epistemic and an existential sense, with skepticism and the question of what is real.

For the past two days, I've had a massive fever, and I had multiple experiences that seemed completely real at the time, but which, after checking for remaining evidence of their happening, now seem to have been nothing other than figments of an afflicted mind working overtime. Of course, I'm working on the assumption that I'm awake now and no longer hallucinating, but there's the rub, isn't it?

Anyway, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a quick and funny introduction to the father of modern philosophy and modern science:


Check out the Masters of Philosophy tag for more serious and funny treatments of some of the greatest thinkers of all time.