Descartes was impressed with the idea that there is no certain way of acquiring knowledge. It should be remembered that during Descartes lifetime science did not exist as we know it today.
Whereas today there is uniform pursuit of knowledge among the scientific community, in Descartes day there was room for a wide variety of opinion. Some thought that with the right method you could solve the problems of understanding. Francis Bacon, for instance, thought this.
Others argued that true knowledge could never be possessed. These were the skeptics and were largely the result of the religious reformation. There were all sorts of claims by the religious types regarding how knowledge is gained. They all concluded ultimately with the opinion that we simply cannot solve these questions.
Religious people, oddly enough, determined that there is no way of knowing anything unlike many of today's religious people who seem to have convinced themselves and would convince us that they now know everything!
Skepticism and scientific hope exited side by side.
Add to this the reality that almost all institutions of learning were in the hands of religious authorities. Some of these authorities were protestant while others were Catholic, but regardless these institutions with a religious agenda and persuasion controlled learning.
A great deal of knowledge focused on the work of Aristotle. Historical authority as a means of the discovery of truth was the primary method at the time. The individual who was in search of truth and who was striving for knowledge was to devote himself to the study of the great minds of the past.
But Descartes felt that this approach was inadequate. He wanted a research program whereby truth could be discovered. The work of Descartes was also conditioned by the reality that science was not an organized enterprise at the time.
Into this historical context, Descartes fascination by the question of whether we could ever know anything with certainty emerged. He stood on the edge of the birth of Cartesian Doubt.
