The first phase of skepticism was revealed under the Pythagoras philosophy, which stated that there is no objective truth. The belief of religion was collapse; man searched for the truth by rely on their own logic, thus there was no truth outside human logic. Unfortunately, every man has his own understanding about the truth, further there were no absolute truth, the truth was depend on each man based on his own logic. Thus, truth was relative. There was no certainty. At that time came the survivor, the great philosopher, Socrates (470-399 BC). By his dialectics method, introducing that there is an objective truth. He tried to convince people to believe in religion as they used to be.

The second phase of skepticism, arose during the 10th-15th century, when philosophy was hegemonies by the Church authority. Philosophy as a science could not find its freedom to find the truth; the church authority limited its freedom only for a tool to legitimate of their Holy Book. All science should be based on the interpretation of the Holy Book, therefore if any science contrary or against the interpretation of the Holy Book, then the scientist or philosopher should be punished. It was ever happened to Copernicus and Galileo, whereas they asserted their ideas that it is earth which around the sun, and sun as the center of universe (heliocentric). In other words, the using of ratio is limited and undeveloped. It is absolutely clear such as in the Anselmus (1033-1109) philosophy. The typical of Middle age philosophy is known as in the famous word saying by Saint Anselmus, credo ut intelligam, means believing first then understanding. This type is absolutely different from rational philosophy, understanding first then believing or not believing.

This change in thoughts and beliefs and the toppling of the intellectual and philosophical foundation (of the Middle Ages) broad about psychological crises in many of the scholars, and raised doubts in their minds such as : How can we be sure that other beliefs we hold are not invalid, and that one day their invalidity will not become evident? How can we know that newly discovered scientific theories will not also be invalidated someday? Finally, a great scholars named Montaigne denied the value of science and knowledge and he explicitly wrote; how can we be sure that the theory of Copernicus will not be invalidated in the future? He once more expressed the doubts of the skeptics and the sophists in a new way, and defended skepticism, and thus another phase of skepticism appeared.

In the middle age, in Europe there was school of philosophy, the place where the only discussion taught in the church affiliated schools, and which came to be called scholastic philosophy, were these which could justify the dogmas of Christianity, dogmas which were not without deviation themselves. The dogmatic resistance of the Church and the ruthless behavior of the authorities of the Church with respect to the scientists brought about adverse reaction. The most important effort from skepticism and the revitalization of philosophy was Rene Descartes, the French philosopher who is called “The Father of The Modern Philosophy.”

The word Renaissance derived from The Renaissance, also known as " Rinascimento" (in Italian), was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. It marks the transitional period between the end of the Middle Ages and the start of the Modern Age. The Renaissance is usually considered to have originated in the 14th century in northern Italy and begun in the late 15th century in northern Europe.

The term Rebirth (Rinascenza), to indicate the flourishing of artistic and scientific activities starting in Italy in the 13th century, was first used by Italian historian Giorgio Vasari in the Vite, published in 1550. The term Renaissance is the French translation, used by French historian Jules Michelet, and expanded upon by Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt (both in the 1860s). Rebirth is used in two ways. First, it means rediscovery of ancient classical texts and learning and their applications in the arts and sciences. Second, it means that the results of these intellectual activities created a revitalization of European culture in general. Thus it is possible to speak of the Renaissance in two different but meaningful ways: A rebirth of classical learning and knowledge through the rediscovery of ancient texts, and also a rebirth of European culture in general. The following article is discussion about Descartes’ life and thought.

2. Discussion

2.1. Descartes’ life

Descartes was born in a village near Tours in France in 1596. He was educated at a Jesuit college which was firmly grounded in the scholastic tradition, and by no means adverse to the study of either the humanities, or science. At the school he was given privileges similar to those enjoyed by boys of noble birth, but on the grounds of his fragile health. Descartes studied a broad range of subjects, and excelled particularly in mathematics. It is clear he benefited greatly from this Jesuit education, yet Descartes (in common with many intellectuals of his time) was keen to stress the separation of reason and faith. This meant that he could be skeptical concerning the philosophical and theological positions taken by the Church, while maintaining his Catholic faith. After taking a degree in law from Poitier, Descartes enlisted in the Dutch and, later, the Bavarian militaries. By 1619, under the influence of the Dutch mathematician and scientist Beeckman, Descartes began his exceptionally fertile mathematical studies of natural phenomena. Also around 1619, Descartes may have begun the unfinished Rules for the Direction of the Mind which was his first major philosophical treatise on the proper method for pursuing either science or rational theology. Over the next decade, Descartes alternated spending time in Paris with the circle of mathematicians and physicists gathered around the figure of Father Mersenne, and travelling widely. In 1629 Descartes moved to Holland where he lived in seclusion for 20 years, only occasionally returning to France, and changing his residence frequently to preserve his privacy.

It was after he moved to Amsterdam that Descartes began working in earnest on the philosophical ideas upon which his fame now rests. The Discourse on the Method was published in 1637. And in 1640, he enlarged upon the metaphysical issues therein, writing his Meditations on First Philosophy. The full title of this work is Meditations on the First Philosophy: In Which the Existence of God and the Distinction Between Mind and Body are Demonstrated. The work was first published in 1641 in Latin and was translated into French in the following year by the Duc de Luynes. The Principles of Philosophy followed in 1644. He went to Sweden on the invitation of the Queen in 1649, and died a few months later of inflammation of the lungs.

2.2 Descartes’ Philosophy

Descartes’ philosophy’s background came from the uncertainty situation that time. Scholastic thought, did not know how to handle the positive science which revealed by some scientists and philosophers. Seeing those situation he was encouraged to get free from the trap of the traditional thought and found out another new way of thinking. The following article will elaborate Descartes’ philosophy, mainly related to his epistemology. Descartes’ epistemology will be divided into three main parts: the quest for certainty, the certainty of existence, and the argument for existence of the external world.

2.2.1 The Quest for Certainty

Descartes point is proposing such a catastrophic test was not just to introduce doubts about everything: “I did not imitate the Skeptics, who doubt only for the sake of doubting, and pretend that they are always uncertain. On the contrary, my purpose was only to obtain good ground for assurance for my self, and to reject the quicksand and mud so that I might find the rock or clay.” Descartes was seeking an absolutely certain basis for all knowledge. To find strong basis for his philosophy, he started to doubt anything. He doubts all senses perceptions, he doubt the existence of his own body. To doubt all those things are possible, because there are dreams, illusion, imagination that as if there are exist. When we are dreaming, we see by our eyes that we wear a cloth, sitting by the fire and seems that it is real, but when we wake up then we know that we are not wearing any cloth and are not sitting by the fire. Thus, who can guarantee that what we perceive by our senses really real or exist? There is a real exact thing that can not be deceived by our senses or even by ghost, it is really real or exact that now “ I doubt .“ This is became his basis of philosophy. his principle may be summarized in his famous proposition: “ I doubt, therefore I am “ or “ I think, therefore I am “ or in Latin “ Cogito Ergo Sum “ that is, if one follows the way of doubt regarding the existence of everything, one will nonetheless never be able to doubt one’s own existence. Since doubt is meaningless without one who doubts, the human existence of doubters and thinkers is also indubitable.

2.2.2 The Certainty of Existence

In this manner Descartes carried on his test in search of some information which would be indubitable and certain. If could find such knowledge, he could use it as starting point for justifying the entire structure of human knowledge. Descartes found exactly the kind of certainty: “ I think, therefore I am “ why am I so certain that “ I think, therefore I am “ is true? According to Descartes, the only feature of this statement which convinces me that it is true, is that I clearly and distinctly see or understand, what is being said. Clarity and distinctness, must be the marks of truth, the distinguishing characteristics by which you can tell the true from the false. Then, general rule can be formulated, “ Whatever is clearly and distinctly conceived is true. “

From doubting anything, he then came to one exact thing which is doubt itself. Doubt is the exact n exist thing, because nothing can deceive me who doubt. And the person who doubts must be also real and exist. So whoever doubt or think he must be real and exist. Finally he found that there is one truth, it is “ I doubt or think, therefore I am. “ “ I think, therefore I am “ is a clear and distinct proposition. We must warn against the fact that when Descartes began the demonstrative stage of his thought, he had not felt the need for accepting the syllogistic figures in logic. Rather, he believed that knowledge of his existence by way of his thought is an intuitive matter that does not require the construction of syllogistic figures and the acceptance of their minor and major premises. Since the proposition, “ I think, therefore I am “ is true because it is intuitive, such that it is not subject to doubt, anything of the same degree of intuitiveness is also true. With this, Descartes added another proposition, and admitted as true that a thing does not out of nothing. On Descartes official doctrines, ideas are innate insofar as their content derives from the nature of the mind alone, as opposed to deriving from sense experience. The innate ideas are:

2.2.3 The Argument For Existence of The External World

We can be certain of our own existence, of God and of God’s guarantee that whatever is clearly and distinctly conceived is true. Mathematics knowledge is true but only gives us truth about concepts in our mind. There is truth outside our mind: since the belief in an external world is a natural one, God would be deceiving us unless it were true. Since God cannot be a deceiver, there must be an external physical world. The properties that we can safely attribute to it are those which we find in our clear and distinct ideas of body- namely, geometrical and arithmetical truth. Another argument for external physical world is:

3. Conclusion

Descartes’ epistemology is based on rational foundation. By using his ratio he searched for the truth, the knowledge. According to him, thought as an activity of thinking is the objective reality, there is no deception by which thought is a truth. “I think, therefore I am” is a starting point for Descartes to find the truth. Clear and distinct those are the requirements of finding the truth or the existence of a thing. Through these requirements, Descartes found any other truth that he called it as: Innate ideas. Innate ideas are objective realities since we conceive those ideas by our ratio, meanwhile the existence of the external world as subjective reactions since it is acquiring our senses. Descartes emphasizes his thought merely on logic, due to the using of ratio at that time was tightly limited. Nevertheless, Descartes himself cannot separate from the atmosphere of religion thought. Rationality foundation that he built to find the truth did not make him as a slave of ratio and neglecting the existence of God. In contrary, he tried to harmonize religion and ratio. He thought clearly and distinctly that there is impossible all existences came from nothing, as his famous proposition: “ A thing does not come out from nothing.”

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Istasadhya,

"Master Student of Islamic Philosophy- ICAS Jakarta"