Abstract

Descartes begins his Meditations on First Philosophy by asking his reader to cast aside all of her opinions and to subsequently accept only those beliefs which she discovers to be indubitable. He employs a very special method to help his reader in this process of recovery---the analytic method. This method consists in his making sure that his reader's pre-Meditations opinions do not interfere with her arrival at beliefs that are indubitable. Descartes is sensitive to the fact that even though his reader has committed to casting aside all of her opinions, as lifelong-held opinions they will habitually recur and hold sway. Accordingly, many of the claims that he makes in the Meditations are merely heuristic devices intended to keep these opinions from so interfering. ;Interpreting the Meditations in light of the fact that Descartes is employing his analytic method therein has a number of important consequences. One is that many apparent problems in Descartes' system are dissolved. Since his heuristic claims often conflict with his considered views, commentators who miss that these are heuristic claims offer a picture of Descartes as muddled and confused. However, when are sensitive to the fact that Descartes is employing the analytic method, we arrive at a reading of his system which is internally consistent and wholly systematic. We get new readings of the Second Meditation, the Fourth Meditation truth rule, Fifth Meditation true and immutable natures, the argument for the real distinction between mind and body, and the argument for the existence of material things. We also obtain a new understanding of Descartes' views on modality