Methodical Doubt and Raciovitalism: Key Philosophical Concepts

Methodical Doubt in Cartesian Philosophy

Methodical doubt is an essential method of Cartesian philosophy, which aims at a radical foundation of knowledge. It seeks to reject as inadequate all beliefs that may give rise to doubt. The practice of methodological doubt calls into question the value of the senses and deductive reasoning. The physical world and the external body do not exceed the actual methodical doubt. Only the Cogito resists the ravages of methodological doubt.

This method was used by Descartes to discover the Cogito, a concept that expresses, on the one hand, the first, whole, and absolutely true truth ("I think, therefore I am"), and secondly, the fact that this truth concerns a self-conscious mind.

Methodical doubt, especially in its criticism of the senses, served Descartes to defend the intangible nature of the mind: all bodies are doubtful, including one's own, but one's mind is not. Therefore, the mind must consist of something different from physical reality. Minds are thinking substances (res cogitans), while bodies are extensive substances (res extensa).

Ortega y Gasset's Raciovitalism

Ortega's perspectival and circumstantial position would not be abandoned by him in his mature philosophical period, known as raciovitalism. Raciovitalism attempts to combine the positive elements of vitalism and rationalism, resulting in the configuration of a new thought, articulated around the notion of critical reason. We can highlight the following aspects:

1. Ontological Primacy of Reality

First, it emphasizes the ontological primacy of reality over knowledge, which means the ontological primacy of the vital, as life is the most significant aspect of reality. Thought occurs "after" being, secondary to objective reality. Reason, the real lawmaker, becomes a mere chronicler of reality to which it must submit. Since the most significant aspect of reality is life, as a fundamental reality, it will become the primary object of philosophical reflection of reason, the point of departure for any theory.

2. Life as Radical Reality

The life Ortega speaks of is not "biological" life but, in radical reality, has to meet certain conditions that distinguish it from a purely biological account. It is the life capable of accounting for personal life; every human being's life is *my* life, human life. Thinking enables us to understand life and its circumstances, giving meaning to human action, to the particular form of work of man in the world. Therefore, thought cannot be seen as opposed to or outside of life.

3. Being in the World

To live is "to be in the world," but in a world that cannot be identified as the "nature" of the ancients. This "being in the world" is the realization of lived experience as such. It is also an occupation, a task performed to achieve an end. Therefore, living is necessarily designed, free to decide what we want to be and do. This identification of life with the ability to anticipate, necessary for any project, also requires the freedom to choose between the different possibilities offered to me in my circumstances. It is, therefore, a limitation and a certain freedom in the possibilities of action of man in his circumstances.