Descartes

In the Meditations, Descartes embarks upon what Bernard Williams
has called the project of 'Pure Enquiry' to discover certain,
indubitable foundations for knowledge. By subjecting everything
to doubt Descartes hoped to discover whatever was immune to it.
In order to best understand how and why Descartes builds his
epistemological system up from his foundations in the way that he
does, it is helpful to gain an understanding of the intellectual
background of the 17th century that provided the motivation for
his work.


Bibliography

1. Descartes, Ren_ A Discourse on Method, Meditations and
Principles of Philosophy trans. John Veitch. The Everyman's
Library, 1995.

Descartes, Ren_ The Philosophical Writings of Descartes volume I
and II ed. and trans. John Cottingham, R. Stoothoff and D.
Murdoch. Cambridge, 1985.

Frankfurt, Harry Demons, Dreamers and Madmen. Bobbs-Merrill,
1970.

Curley, Edwin Descartes Against the Skeptics. Oxford, 1978.
Vesey, Godfrey Descartes: Father of Modern Philosophy. Open
University Press, 1971.

Sorrell, Tom Descartes: Reason and Experience. Open University
Press, 1982.

The Oxford Companion to Philosophy ed. Ted Honderich. Oxford
University Press, 1985.

Cottingham, John Descartes. Oxford, 1986. Williams, Bernard
Descartes: The Project of Pure Enquiry. Harmondsworth, 1978.

Russell, Bertrand The History of Western Philosophy. George Allen
and Unwin, 1961. 11. Kripke, Saul Naming and Necessity. Oxford
1980.