A CRITIQUE OF RENE DESCARTES' FOUNDATIONALISM

It is truism that the question of what counts as true knowledge and its origin has remained one of the central issues in philosophy; precisely epistemology. The empiricists argue for sensory data as basic suppliers of true knowledge whereas the rationalists insist knowledge is innate. In his attempt to purge philosophy of all uncertainties, Descartes sought to ground philosophy on a foundation that is indubitable as that of mathematics. This led to his postulation of epistemological foundationalism. This study critiqued Rene Descartes' foundationalism and brings to the fore, its implications for knowledge acquisition.The work employed the qualitative research design where data were sourced from books, journals and periodicals. In line with the above, the expository method was employed to establish Descartes' thoughts on foundationalism, while the evaluative method was adopted to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of Descartes' thoughts before bringing to the fore, its implications for knowledge acquisition. The study found out that as plausible as Descartes" foundationalism may seem, it is not without flaws. The study therefore concluded that any attempt to purge philosophy of its uncertainties as attempted by Descartes is tantamount to the reduction of philosophy to some other science. This is because; the uncertainties inherent in philosophy are what make for the beauty, substance as well as the continuity of the enterprise of philosophy.