es could be deceived (Descartes used many examples when this was the case, which will be discussed later). The second option, favoured by Descartes, Empiricus argued could not lead anywhere as it is circular to justify reason with reason. The third option, which most people use in their every day lives, is affected by both of these difficulties. Empiricus decided that the problem was irresolvable, we can never rely on anything to be certain but that does not have to be a problem, life goes on regardless of truth. Neither Descartes nor Gassendi were satisfied with this conclusion and both set out to reexamine the issues. Gassendi agreed with Empiricus that reason could not be justified by reason alone and so believed the senses provide the most accurate criterion of truth. Descartes took the opposite route, the senses mislead us every day and what has deceived us even once cannot be trusted, reason was his only hope of finding a universal truth and it was this which he clung to in his Meditations.
             Descartes realised that it would be a tough task to ask his readers to abandon all of their preconceived beliefs, and in his preface he states "I would not urge anyone to read this book except those who are able and willing to meditate seriously with me". His arguments flow onto the page as a stream of consciousness and it is easy to see his jumbled prose and uneasy examples as proof that the ideas themselves are jumbled and incoherent. It is a mammoth task Descartes has set himself, and he doesn't know quite how to allow us into his thoughts, occasionally he is hit by moments of clarity ("A brilliant piece of reasoning!") and he rushes to explain them before all is lost to confusion again. Given time though Descartes' meaning becomes clear, and it is possible to decipher the arguments he makes and put them in their logical form.
             Cottingham sees 12 steps of thought in Descartes First Meditation, though these can be understood as 4...