Cartesian doubt

American  

noun

Philosophy.

1. willful suspension of all interpretations of experience that are not absolutely certain: used as a method of deriving, by elimination of such uncertainties, axioms upon which to base theories.

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Example Sentences

This methodical or theoretical Cartesian doubt, this philosophical doubt excogitated in a stove, is not the doubt, is not the scepticism, is not the incertitude, that I am talking about here.

From Tragic Sense Of Life by Flitch, J. E. Crawford (John Ernest Crawford)

This is the meaning of the Cartesian doubt, which is more comprehensive and more thorough than the Baconian.

From History of Modern Philosophy From Nicolas of Cusa to the Present Time by Falckenberg, Richard