René Descartes was a skeptic, and therefore believed that in order for something to be considered a true piece of knowledge, that “knowledge must have a certain stability” , (Cottingham 21). In his work Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes concludes that to achieve this stability he must start from the foundations of all his opinions and find the basis of doubt in each of them. David Hume, however, maintains a different position on skepticism in his work An Inquiry about Human Understanding, as he criticizes Descartes' statement because "'it is impossible'" (qtd. in Cottingham 35). Both philosophers show distinct reasoning about what skepticism is and how it is useful for finding stability. Descartes begins the passage by stating that since many things he had learned in his childhood turned out to be false, he felt it was necessary "to demolish everything completely and start again from the foundations, if I wanted to found something in the sciences that was stable and destined to last" (22). Such a tedious task would take an enormous amount of time; however, in comparing his beliefs to a building, Descartes intends to start at the beginning or “foundations” of his beliefs so that when he finds doubt in the support, any beliefs based on the foundations will be ignored. He begins this doubt with the senses, as he believes that every opinion he has comes from the senses and that, because the senses "deceive us," they are not reliable sources of information (22). As a “madman,” Descartes must therefore doubt the existence of everything he sees, and the difference between real life and dreams is further questioned. According to Descartes, the images placed before us in the center of the paper represent the level of skepticism followed by every philosopher. Descartes, who is overly skeptical, attempts to find doubt in his beliefs, in reality as opposed to dreams, in God, and ultimately in his own existence. Hume, a moderate skeptic, instead believes that Descartes' skepticism is illogical because by doubting the senses and everything else in the world, satisfactory truths will never be found. In conclusion, the distinction between these two philosophers is evident regarding the statements they made.Works CitedDescartes, René. Meditations on first philosophy. 1996. Western Philosophy: AnAnthology. Ed. Giovanni Cottingham. 2nd ed. Np: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2008. 21-25. Print.Hume, David. An investigation into the human intellect. 1996. Western Philosophy: AnAnthology. Ed. Giovanni Cottingham. 2nd ed. Np: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2008. 35-39. Press.