Silencing the Demon’s Advocate. The Strategy of Descartes’ Medita

This book attempts to explain The Meditations (1641), a classic of Western philosophy in which Descartes tries to reach a predetermined end ("perfect certainty") by means of a definite method ("the method of doubt"). The author argues that many problems of interpretation—including notorious problems of circularity—arise from a failure to recognize that Descartes´ strategy for attaining certainty is not to add support for his beliefs, but to subtract grounds for doubt. To explain this strategy, Rubin views Descartes as playing the role of a fictional character—The Demon´s Advocate—whose beliefs are, in some respects, mirror images of Descartes´ own. The purpose of The Meditations, he contends, is to silence The Demon´s Advocate.