Descartes' meditation
.... According to Descartes, nothing should be blindly accepted as the truth. Man must liberate his mind so that he may freely pursue that which is truly knowledge, and not merely a representation of knowledge. This is the central idea behind Descartes?Meditations on the First Philosophy, which presents six arguments on how man can ‘free?himself to recognize truth and the meaning of his existence. In the first meditation, Descartes?stated categorically that he believed he had been misled by false knowledge that had passed itself off as being true. The only way to recognize knowledge is to constantly probe and prod it to make sure the logic upon which it is based doesn’t collapse. As Descartes wrote, "I have ever since been convinced that if I am to establish anything firm and lasting in the sciences, I must once and for all, and hitherto give credence, starting entirely anew, and building from the foundations up" (28). The best way to raze this foundation, according to Descartes, is to have "suitably freed my mind from all cares... I shall at last apply myself earnestly ...