APPRAISING THE PROBLEM OF FOUNDATIONALISM IN CARTESIAN EPISTEMOLOGY

Abstract

A critical look at the history of philosophy reveals that philosophers are not in agreement
regarding the criterion and method of acquiring knowledge. While the rationalists
elevates and argues for the primacy of reason in that regard, the empiricists on the other
divide argues for the infallibility of sense experience. As opposed to the rationalist and the
empiricist is the position of the skeptics who questioned and doubted the possibility of
knowledge. This position stands at the background of the thoughts of Rene Descartes and
agitated his philosophising about knowledge. In his attempt to purge philosophy of all
uncertainties, Descartes sought to ground philosophy on a foundation that is indubitable
as that of mathematics. This led to his postulation of epistemological foundationalism.
This paper seeks to appraise Rene Descartes' foundationalism and brings to the fore, its
implications for knowledge acquisition. The work employed the qualitative research
design where data were sourced from books, journals and periodicals. In line with the
above, the expository method was employed to establish Descartes' thoughts on
foundationalism, while the evaluative method was adopted to ascertain the strengths and
weaknesses of Descartes' thoughts before bringing to the fore, its implications for
knowledge acquisition. The paper found out that as plausible as Descartes'
foundationalism may seem, it is not without flaws. The study therefore concludes that any
attempt to purge philosophy of its uncertainties as attempted by Descartes is tantamount
to the reduction of philosophy to some other science. This is because; the uncertainties
inherent in philosophy are what make for the beauty, substance as well as the continuity of
the enterprise of philosophy.