62DESCARTES, RENÉ
well-known key terms that challenges
Western metaphysics—it is a unified body
of thought in the philosophical quest for
a simple origin that favors presence as
a self-sufficient source. “The Trace” is
another of his key terms that challenges
conventional thought when he says “a
past that has never been present” to
explain the priority of presence. Derrida’s
work with deconstruction criticizes
literary texts, philosophical texts, and
political institutions. Derridean decon-
struction tries to re-think differences
that divide self-consciousness in an effort
to bring about justice, even though it may
be impossible to achieve. In the 1990s
Derrida’s writing seemed to go in two
directions, the first being politics and the
second being religion. Much of Derrida’s
work draws upon traditions of Husserl
and Heidegger. Some of his other well-
known writings are Speech and Phenom-
ena (1967), Writing and Difference (1967),
Margins of Philosophy (1972), Dissemina-
tion (1972), Glas (1974), The Post Card
(1980), Given Time (1991) and The Poli-
tics of Friendship (1994).
DESCARTES, RENÉ (1596–1650).
Through a strict methodology, Descartes
offered two arguments for theism. One
was an ontological argument to the effect
that the possibility of God’s necessary
existence entails God’s actual existence.
The other is an argument that the best
explanation of our idea of God as a
perfect being must be the actual existence
of God as a perfect being. He also
defended the certain existence of the self,
the distinction between the self and the
body, and the general reliability of our
senses. His argument that the self is not
identical with its body is based on the
thesis that it is possible for the self to exist
without its body. If it is possible for the
self to exist without its body, the self and
body are not identical.
In theology and philosophy of religion,
two aspects of Descartes’ work have
received the most attention:
First, his methodology was shaped
principally by an excoriating skepticism.
What can be doubted? Descartes set
out to build a foundation of indubitable
knowledge, a project that has come to be
known as foundationalism. The presumed
failure of his foundationalism has led
some thinkers to believe that the overall
project of the Enlightenment to achieve
impartial certain knowledge independent
of tradition is a failure.
Second, Descartes’ case for the distinc-
tion of the mind and body has received
unrelenting criticism on the grounds that
he left unexplained how the mind and
body interact, and he also (implicitly)
subordinated the value of the body to the
mind. Especially to feminists, this repre-
sents an offense to the wholeness and
integrity of personal identity. Defenders
of Descartes (called Cartesians) counter
that Descartes’ foundationalism can be
reconstructed rigorously (see work by