Please answer the following questions down below with specific details and evidence to support your answer:

1. Descartes method of doubt is to treat as false, for his purpose of discovering some idea that is absolutely certain, any idea that is not beyond any doubt. So why does Descartes doubt that his senses (sight, hearing, etc.) are a reliable source of knowledge? What principle does he appeal to in rejecting the senses as absolutely reliable? Give some examples of how our senses sometimes deceive us. (You cannot use the example of a stick or pencil in water.)

2. Descartes then says that there are some things that the senses seem to tell him that seem beyond doubt, so that if he were doubt those experiences, he would have to be insane. Give an example. Why does he then go on to say that he can doubt those experiences and not be insane?

3. What is the problem of dreaming in Descartes philosophy? Even if dreaming is such a problem, something seems to be true beyond any doubt for Descartes: what is it?

4. What is the evil genius? Why does Descartes say that if the evil genius exists, then he cant even use mathematics as the absolutely certain foundation for all knowledge?

5. Descartes lived in a time of profound changes in science, religion, and the whole of Western culture. What does Descartes think he discovers that is beyond any possible doubt, some truths that cannot be challenged, and how did he discover them?

6. Finally, why is it essential for Descartes to prove, not only that God exists, but that God is good and not evil?