The Proof Of The External World: Cartesian Theism And The Possibility Of Knowledge

Descartes attempt to ground the possibility of human knowledge in the existence of God was judged to be a complete failure by his contemporaries. This remains the universal opinion of philosophers to this day, despite the fact that three and a half centuries of secular epistemology -which attempts to ground the possibility of knowledge either in the unaided human intellect or in natural processes- has failed to do any better. Further, the leading twentieth-century attempts at theistic epistemology reject both the conception of knowledge and the standards of epistemic evaluation that Descartes takes for granted. In this book -partly an interpretation of Descartes and partly an attempt to complete his project- the author attempts to show that a theistic epistemology incorporating Platonic and Aristotelian/Thomist elements can revitalize the Cartesian approach to the solution of the central problems of epistemology, including that most elusive of prizes -the proof of the external world. An excellent analysis of a central problem of philosophy. It will be essential reading for students of epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy.