ABSTRACT
The primary legacy of Descartes is the legacy of direct knowledge that is both certain in status and universal in application. Descartes' proof of the existence of consciousness is an example of direct knowledge that is both certain and universal. Descartes is to be heralded not because he discovered the subject, but because he took philosophy's role, announced by Plato, to be a search for knowledge as opposed to opinion, and applied it within the field of consciousness. While Descartes' circle requires a certain foundation for its alleged certainty, the hermeneutic circle undermines all claims to certainty. The ghost of the hermeneutic circle can be exorcised together with the ghost of the Cartesian circle. Today's hermeneutics is the functional equivalent of scholasticism and it has been as influential in keeping one from philosophy as the scholasticism of Descartes' day was in keeping one from appreciating the power and scope of Descartes' discovery.
