Key Idea: Descartes tries to rebuild all knowledge on one unshakeable foundation. He doubts everything he possibly can, finds a single certainty — that he is thinking — and then tries to grow the rest of knowledge back out of it. For IB you study all six Meditations. Master this text and you have a ready-made answer for Paper 2 — a 25-mark, open-book essay on this one book, where you sit the exam with a clean copy of the text beside you.
🧠 The five moves, one card each
Text 10.3 at a glance
- 10.3.1 · The method of doubt — To find something certain, doubt everything that could conceivably be false. Three waves: the senses can deceive, dreams can mimic waking, and an all-powerful 'evil demon' could fool you about even maths. If a belief can be doubted at all, set it aside.
- 10.3.2 · The cogito — One thing survives the demon: while I am thinking, I cannot doubt that I exist — to doubt is already to think. 'I think, therefore I am.' This first certainty is what the whole system is built on. The 'I' revealed is, so far, just a thinking thing.
- 10.3.3 · Mind and body (dualism) — I can doubt I have a body but not that I think, so my essence is thought, not matter. The wax argument shows the mind, not the senses, grasps what things really are. Mind and body are 'really distinct' — substance dualism.
- 10.3.4 · God and the external world — One certainty isn't enough. The trademark argument claims my idea of a perfect God must come from a real God. A non-deceiving God guarantees that clear and distinct ideas are true — which hands back the external world I'd doubted.
- 10.3.5 · How strong is the system? — Does it hold together? The Cartesian circle: he uses clear ideas to prove God, yet needs God to trust clear ideas. The interaction problem: how can an immaterial mind move a physical body? What survives is the method and the cogito.
The whole book is a rebuilding project: doubt everything to the ground, find one unshakeable stone (the cogito), then use it — plus God — to raise the rest of knowledge back up. See the doubt as construction, not destruction, and every Meditation has its job.
✍️ Bring it together — a Paper 2 question
Evaluate Descartes' claim that the certainty of his own existence as a thinking thing can serve as a secure foundation for the rest of human knowledge. [25]
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
📖 Using your text in the open-book exam
Using your text in the open-book exam
- Bring a CLEAN copy — IB rule: the copy of the Meditations you take in must be un-annotated — no notes in the margins, no underlining, no highlighting. A marked-up copy can be refused, so revise from a separate set of notes and take a clean text into the room.
- Know the map — Memorise which Meditation holds each move — doubt (I), the cogito (II), the wax and dualism (II–VI), God (III & V), the world (VI) — so you can turn to it in seconds. Make your own separate study notes as you learn; you can't write in the exam copy.
- Quote to evidence, then EVALUATE — Open-book means you can cite the text precisely to back a point — do it, but never just summarise. A short accurate reference then your own critical judgement earns marks; page after page of retelling does not.
- Plan then write — A quick argument map — position, support, objection, reply, verdict — beats flipping through pages mid-essay. Note the one or two passages you'll quote, then write. Watch the clock: the book is a resource, not a script.
Important: Just retelling the Meditations instead of evaluating them — or misusing the open text by copying it out. Narrating 'first he doubts, then the cogito, then God, then the world' earns few marks. State the argument accurately AND weigh whether the foundation really holds — press the Cartesian circle, consider a reply, and reach a reasoned verdict.
✅ Check yourself
If you can answer these six, you have the spine of the whole text.
What are the three waves of doubt? The senses can deceive; dreams can mimic waking; and an all-powerful evil demon could fool you even about mathematics. Each pushes the doubt further.
State and explain the cogito. 'I think, therefore I am.' To doubt is to think, and thinking guarantees a thinker exists — so 'I exist' can't be doubted while I'm thinking it.
What does the wax argument show? A piece of wax changes all its sensory qualities yet stays the same wax, so it's the mind (not the senses) that grasps what a thing really is.
What is the trademark argument? My idea of a perfect God is too great to have come from imperfect me, so it must have been 'stamped' on me by a real, perfect God.
What is the Cartesian circle? Descartes trusts clear and distinct ideas because God guarantees them, but proves God using clear and distinct ideas — apparently arguing in a circle.
What is the interaction problem? If mind and body are wholly distinct substances (immaterial vs physical), it's unclear how they could causally affect each other at all.
Exam tips
- Paper 2 is a 25-mark essay on THIS text — an accurate account of Descartes' argument plus your own evaluation, in balance.
- Set up the method of doubt first; the cogito, dualism and the God-proof all depend on it.
- The two objections examiners reward most are the Cartesian circle and mind-body interaction — raise at least one and consider a reply.
- Never just narrate the six Meditations: judge whether the foundation holds, and end on a reasoned verdict.