Cartesian epistemology and infallible justification

Richard Fumerton

pp. 4671-4681

in: Stefano Cossara, Jean-Baptiste Rauzy, Xiaoxing Zhang (eds), Cartesian epistemology, Synthese 195 (11), 2018.

Abstract

In this paper I examine contemporary accounts of noninferential justification in light of what I take to be the Cartesian project of building epistemology on foundations made secure by the impossibility of error. I argue that familiar abstract arguments for foundationalism, by themselves, don’t seem to motivate Cartesianism. But I further argue that there is one version of foundationalism that is more closely linked to the way in which Descartes sought ideal knowledge.

Cited authors

Descartes René