Descartes's mediator

Philodescartes October 22, 2020 at 12:01 1600 views 5 comments

In The Scientific Background to Descartes’ Meditations’, Daniel Garber analyses Descartes's sceptical arguments. But what does Garber exactly mean by Descartes' mediator?

''Descartes' mediator undermined his former beliefs by undermining the epistemology on which they were based...'

Comments (5)

Pantagruel October 22, 2020 at 12:32 #463837 0 likes

You would need to provide a bigger excerpt than this. I cannot find that text online.

Mww October 22, 2020 at 13:08 #463847 0 likes

Reply to Pantagruel

https://www.degruyter.com/california/view/book/9780520907836/10.1525/9780520907836-007.xml?language=en

Gotta dig pretty deep to find the notion of a “mediator” in the opening text of the first Meditation, as posited by Garber.

Philodescartes October 22, 2020 at 13:19 #463851 0 likes

Reply to Pantagruel

And with this, the project has begun. Descartes’ meditator quickly
begins by rejecting the commonsense epistemological principles on
which everything he formerly believed rested, and quickly sets about
putting the world back together again. Of course, one of the central
projects undertaken in this connection must be the replacement of the
epistemological principles rejected with new, more trustworthy principles. Just as Descartes’ meditator undermined his former beliefs
by undermining the epistemology on which they were based, he will
rebuild his world by rebuilding its epistemology.

Olivier5 October 22, 2020 at 13:29 #463853 0 likes

Reply to Philodescartes Typo for ' meditation'?

Pantagruel October 22, 2020 at 15:53 #463875 0 likes

It's a typo for Descartes' "Meditator" - i.e. the guy doing the meditation. It's in the first line of the text in the link supplied by Mww.....