Confidence as first philosophy

On Descartes

“Pauvres fous, qui ont un faible pour les ténèbres plutôt que pour la lumière!”

- Descartes, Règles pour la direction de l’esprit, IX.

I. Confidence

Descartes' project: an exercise in gaining confidence in one's own thinking, and by grace of this, first philosophy. It is this confidence that, for Descartes, constitutes the veritable beginning of philosophy. Descartes lived in a time much like ours; corrupt institutions, appeal to authority, no independent thought, denigration of common man's intellect, hyper-specialization, no one to be trusted, confusion,… It is this milieu to which his entire philosophy is a reaction. His entire philosophy is a search for certainty inside a world that is unable to offer any, to find a small area of certainty that could offer guidance in a world of deception. With Descartes; philosophy is, before it is the construction of a system, the practical art of not letting oneself be deceived. One cannot stop deception, one cannot stop oneself from being deceived by the world. But one can try, to find a safe haven, to build an inner citadel, from which one can offer resistance. Much like in Kant, one cannot stop transcendental illusion, but one can prevent transcendental error. An island of reason, however small it might be.

One cannot have confidence in others, they and their books might deceive. One cannot have confidence in one's senses, for they might deceive. What rests? Confidence in oneself. It is the uncertainty and deception in the world, that pushes us inward, to seek for that certainty that cannot be shaken. Cogito. I can doubt everything, but I cannot doubt that I am doubting. I exist. I feel myself thinking, feeling, imagining, etc. I exist. It is this feeling of oneself feeling that is the Cogito. The mark of indubitability. However much the world might deceive me, this certainty cannot be taken away. However much might shake me into doubt, this doubt cannot be shaken. Yet, in our time, there are many who would deny the Cogito, who would deny that they feel themselves feeling. There are those who, apparently, would deny that they cannot doubt that they are doubting. Hence, the Cartesian suggestion to trust only one’s own reason, lest we be deceived and made to deny even our own existence. Confidence in oneself, a self whose thinking, feeling, doubting, etc. constitutes the only true certainty. 

II. Doubt & Action

It is this confidence that, for Descartes, constitutes a resistance against a world of deception. For this certainty of doubt that leads us to the Cogito, does not signify the absence of knowledge, and doesn’t signify that one shouldn’t have confidence in one’s doubt (as an absence of knowledge would lead to suggest). This doubt, as the proof shows, is a veritable act of oneself, and the only act that is truly marked by certainty. We doubt whether an action is truly the right action. But we put our trust in others and do it anyway. “What do I know.” This is a Cartesian sin. One trusts the opinions of others more than one's own doubt. Doubt is not an absence of knowledge that signifies one shouldn't have confidence in oneself. Doubt is a veritable action of self, and should ensure confidence in self, it should ensure confidence to act (or not act) on the basis of this doubt. To renounce one’s doubt, and believe someone else’s suggestion more than one’s own doubt concerning it, this is the death of philosophy as questioning of doxa. One trusts the world and its opinions, at the cost of reason, and opens the door for deception. One acts on the basis of dubitable opinions, and not on the basis of the certainty of one’s doubt.

Many stand before the vertigo of universal doubt, “how can I be certain of anything but my own existence, and my doubt concerning everything else?”, but get pulled back, and thrown back into the certainty of the world. Why? One trusts more, the opinions of the world, than the certainty of reason. One thinks, that certainty is given by the world, and the self is the deceiver. One has confidence, not in oneself, but in the world. This is the Cartesian dilemma; does one trust oneself (the only thing of which one can be truly certain), or does one trust the world? The world, this domain of which we gain knowledge, by the senses and by grace of others. But putting one’s trust here, is putting one’s trust in those who could potentially deceive, and offer oneself to the whims of circumstance. One believes, not what is certain, but what the world forces one to believe. With Descartes, philosophy begins in certainty. And wherever thought decides to begin in certainty, philosophy is born anew as first philosophy. Thus, for Descartes, philosophy begins in Cogito. But it can only do so, if one has the confidence to begin, no longer from the world, but from oneself.