 Descartes sees little alternative to proceeding as he does. If he just asserts the claims that he is certain are true, other individuals who are in a position to see those claims as obvious will recognize their truth, but these are not necessarily the individuals whom Descartes is trying to reach. He is also trying to reach a much larger set of individuals: those who disagree with him, and who disagree with him deeply. He must say something to these people, but if they are not in a position to see the true, he will have to meet them where they are or else they will not be prepared to engage. About the many false claims that Descartes puts forward in the Meditations, he writes 