Key Arguments

• He holds that "my reason convinces me that I ought not the less carefully to withhold belief from what is not entirely certain and indubitable, than from what is manifestly false," equating the epistemic treatment of the dubitable with that of the clearly false.
• He concludes that "it will be sufficient to justify the rejection of the whole if I shall find in each some ground for doubt," implying that any defect in certainty at the level of a belief’s grounds warrants global rejection.
• He explicitly rejects the project of checking every belief individually as "truly an endless labor" and instead proposes to "at once approach the criticism of the principles on which all my former beliefs rested," using a structural rather than piecemeal strategy.
• He later reiterates that, since he has cogent reasons for doubt, "if I desire to discover anything certain, I ought not the less carefully to refrain from assenting to those same opinions than to what might be shown to be manifestly false," reinforcing the methodological stance.

Source Quotes

To-day, then, since I have opportunely freed my mind from all cares [and am happily disturbed by no passions], and since I am in the secure possession of leisure in a peaceable retirement, I will at length apply myself earnestly and freely to the general overthrow of all my former opinions. But, to this end, it will not be necessary for me to show that the whole of these are false—a point, perhaps, which I shall never reach; but as even now my reason convinces me that I ought not the less carefully to withhold belief from what is not entirely certain and indubitable, than from what is manifestly false, it will be sufficient to justify the rejection of the whole if I shall find in each some ground for doubt. Nor for this purpose will it be necessary even to deal with each belief individually, which would be truly an endless labor; but, as the removal from below of the foundation necessarily involves the downfall of the whole edifice, I will at once approach the criticism of the principles on which all my former beliefs rested.

But, to this end, it will not be necessary for me to show that the whole of these are false—a point, perhaps, which I shall never reach; but as even now my reason convinces me that I ought not the less carefully to withhold belief from what is not entirely certain and indubitable, than from what is manifestly false, it will be sufficient to justify the rejection of the whole if I shall find in each some ground for doubt. Nor for this purpose will it be necessary even to deal with each belief individually, which would be truly an endless labor; but, as the removal from below of the foundation necessarily involves the downfall of the whole edifice, I will at once approach the criticism of the principles on which all my former beliefs rested. All that I have, up to this moment, accepted as possessed of the highest truth and certainty, I received either from or through the senses.

Key Concepts

• it will not be necessary for me to show that the whole of these are false—a point, perhaps, which I shall never reach
• my reason convinces me that I ought not the less carefully to withhold belief from what is not entirely certain and indubitable, than from what is manifestly false
• it will be sufficient to justify the rejection of the whole if I shall find in each some ground for doubt
• nor for this purpose will it be necessary even to deal with each belief individually, which would be truly an endless labor; but, as the removal from below of the foundation necessarily involves the downfall of the whole edifice, I will at once approach the criticism of the principles on which all my former beliefs rested

Context

Meditation I’s methodological clarification of how the project of radical doubt will be conducted and justified.