Meditationes De Prima Philosophia

In 1641, a French mathematician and philosopher sat down to doubt everything he had ever believed. What began as methodical skepticism became the founding document of modern Western philosophy. Descartes questions the reliability of his senses, the certainty of mathematics, even the existence of the physical world, systematically dismantling every belief until he reaches rock bottom. What he finds there the famous "Cogito, ergo sum" is the one truth that survives radical doubt: the act of thinking proves a thinking self exists. From this slender foothold, he rebuilds knowledge, arguing for God's existence, the reliability of clear and distinct ideas, and the fundamental distinction between mind and body. The Meditations remains startlingly alive because it poses the same questions we still wrestle with: What can we really know? How do we distinguish truth from illusion? What is the nature of reality? It is essential reading for anyone who has ever lain awake at night wondering whether the world is really there.