What is the method of doubt?

The method of doubt is a method developed by the philosopher René Descartes (1596 -1650) in his famous essay, Meditations on First Philosophy (1641). Descartes goal was to find a method which allowed him to find true knowledge.

In his First Meditation, Descartes concluded that many of his beliefs turned to be false. Consequently, this made him realise that many of the things he believed in were false. Since false beliefs can’t be count as knowledge, he questioned whether he had knowledge at all. For this reason, Descartes wanted to create a method to discover which beliefs are correct.

To start this process, Descartes started by putting aside all beliefs that created him any doubt. By this, he wanted to find the beliefs that don’t create them doubt – those beliefs which he can be certain of.  On that process, he concluded that all beliefs gained through perception (through the senses) could be questioned – hence, he treated as false all beliefs of this kind.