Enquiry is the process of reaching a truth. Basic ways of carrying out enquiry is to:
- Ask professors, experts, or involved parties
- Relate to common knowledge or customs
Descartes suggests that the above ways for enquiry leads to troubles:
- Disagreement: There is no easy way of telling the truth when two experts / customs / papers disagree.
- Cultural relativity: Conflicts arise if is accepted in one community but not the other.
As a result, Descartes believed that the best of enquiry is radical epistemology democratism, which is to say that everyone has enough sense to carry out enquiry themselves without relying on others’ opinions.