ABSTRACT
We have argued that the method of analysis consists of two phases, a search for principles and a confirmation of the propriety of the principles. There are three elements in Cartesian confirmation: first, the principle in question is recognized as (materially) true by the natural light, second, it explains the phenomenon that provided the occasion for the search for the principle, and third, the principles discovered coherently unify the various elements of a conceptual system or are shown to have a determinate place in such a system. One might expand on Descartes’s famous house metaphor by suggesting that the natural light (clear and distinct perception) provides a foundation for the house, but the stability of the house requires that uprights be constructed on that foundation and that lateral beams support those uprights. In Meditations Two and Three, he provides some of the uprights from which his conceptual house is built; in Meditations Four through Six, he completes the framing and installs beams that laterally support the uprights. In each of the last three Meditations, he draws out the implications of the conclusion that God is not a deceiver.
