How Did Rene Descartes Defeat Skepticism

Early philosopher Rene Descartes aimed to defeat skepticism with his strategy of doubting everything. In the matter of perception, Descartes believed that nothing should be believed to hold any truth unless it undoubtedly, clearly, consistently proved to be. He even went as far as stating that the only thing he was certain existed was himself, or rather, his mind and rationality. This was in fact his first rule to acquiring knowledge. His goal was to challenge anything and everything that he was exposed to so that he could eventually reach a foundation of solid, unchallengeable ideas to base his beliefs on. Descartes claimed that nearly everything we sense seemed to be simple, clear, and obvious, but that they were actually misleading and
deceiving. His conclusion being this idea of simple natures, which stated that two simple properties (extension and motion) could explain all physical phenomena. I find Descartes’ ideas on skepticism interesting and slightly ironic. While it is evident that our senses indeed deceive us in a portion of situations, Descartes’ method of doubt does not seem to support this said level of skepticism that he has. In order to claim that senses deceive us, a person would need to recognize when something is off. The ability to distinguish between being deceived and not would need to be present. For example, in order for someone to know that what they are deceptions, they would need to know that there are things called illusions, and that they do not actually exist. Therefore in knowing all of this, the person would be able to see through the deception, or in other words, not actually be deceived. All in all, it seems as though that by suggesting that our sense are deceived, Descartes was also suggesting that we have the ability to know and see through the deceptions thus not actually being deceived, giving no reason to doubt.