S1E3: Interview with Descartes

What if you decided to doubt everything—your senses, your memories, even math itself—just to see what, if anything, survives?What if that experiment made you famous… and deeply unpopular… and eventually summoned you to a frozen royal court where philosophy is scheduled before sunrise?In Episode 3 of Hey Everybody, Philosophy!, Jeff D. sits down with René Descartes at the very end of his life—inside the court of Queen Christina of Sweden—while he’s cold, exhausted, brilliant, and still absolutely convinced he’s right.They talk about:Why Descartes tried to reboot philosophy from scratchThe radical idea that comes at the beginning of knowledge, not the endWhether he really hid in a stove to thinkWhy he avoided people… then became famous anywayWhat happens when reason collides with religion, politics, and freezing Scandinavian morningsAnd how “I think, therefore I am” became one of the most dangerous sentences ever writtenThis episode isn’t just about Descartes’ ideas—it’s about the mindset that changed how we think about thinking itself. You’ll hear him dismantle reality piece by piece, argue with Jeff about God, free will, and error, and explain why certainty is rare, precious, and worth suffering for.By the end, you may not trust your senses.You may question your assumptions.You may start doubting things you’ve never doubted before.Which, frankly, Descartes would consider a huge success.