Mundane question in Cartesian philosophy of mind

The article under consideration discusses how religious consciousness relates to scepticism. The philosophy of Descartes wasdeclared atheistic by Protestant theologian Voetius because Cartesius adhered to the idea of radical doubt. The religious consciousness isnot limited to such an attitude to doubt if to speak of its multiple manifestations. Throughout the New Testament we can see that doubtitself does not carry negative connotations. There are several passages in the Bible, in which believers are obliged to question thevalidity of some data. Moreover, the Bible contains fragments indirectly raising Cartesian questions. In particular, the article points out apassage from the Revelation where one of the characters is considered non-existent according to the message addressed to him. Thatfragment is an allegory, but allegorical sense itself does not abolish the information reported to the reader when reading literally. St.Augustine Aurelius wrote that academicians called into question their existence (as well as Cartesius subsequently). St. John theEvangelist operates the idea of Logos, as the use of ideas of ancient philosophy was necessary for preaching the pagans. Perhaps theRevelation recalls the doubts of academicians in the above passage for the same purpose. In accordance with the theory of PierreBourdieu, an individual existing in a certain social environment acquires the system of ideas and predispositions formed by thisenvironment - habitus. Cogitative products of habitus being restricted by historical and social conditions do not allow creatingsomething unprecedentedly new or mechanical reproducing the old precisely. Academicians called into question the fact of theirexistence but they did not offer ways of solving the problem. However, the biography of Descartes indicates that Jesuits probablytrained him to read the Bible regularly. In addition, Jesuits were the bulwark of the Counter-Reformation, and sought to cultivate instudents the ability to resist Protestantism. In the light of the purposes put by Jesuits, eschatological moods of some Protestant sectsfavoured special attention to the Revelation book, as eschatological subjects are mainly mentioned in the given book. With the supportof the theory of Bourdieu the hypothesis is put forward that Cartesius could get the idea of cogito from the fragment that presumablyreminds the doubts of academicians and in its own way resolves these doubts.

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