Part Two

• Descartes questions the concept of truth. He thinks that people confide so much in what they are told that they don't actually see the truth in any of it, so he believes that you shouldn't believe anything you cannot prove to be true for yourself.
• Descartes uses architecture as a metaphor on his ideas of thinking for himself. He states, "Thus one sees that buildings undertaken and completed by a single architect are usually more attractive and better ordered than those which many architects have tried to patch up by using old walls that had been built for other purposes." This means that Descartes believes that the ideas of one person are closer to the truth than the collected ideas of many people. I agree with this and think of it as it being easier to comprehend one idea compared to multiple ideas.
• Descartes believes very strongly that our "foundations" or parents and teachers are much to blame for the lack of truth in our lives. He thinks that if we were to grow up thinking for ourselves and not what we were taught, our judgements would be "pure" and "solid" because that was the only way we would know how to think.
• As Descartes became more knowledgable, he realized there are four main rules to guide him through a truthful (or as close to the truth as you could possibly get) life and he found that it was a good way to organize his thoughts: 1.) Never accept anything as true that you cannot prove to be true yourself. Don't judge anything unless you know in your mind it is so clear that there is no doubt about it. 2.) To work better to resolve issues, cut things into small pieces and little by little it will all make sense. 3.) Conduct your thoughts in an orderly fashion from simplest to most difficult. 4.) Always solve problems completely and leave nothing out. He found these rules to be very sufficient in all aspects of life.