8.

Descartes' meditations are commonly misunderstood. They are the opposite of an argument for solipsism or infinite interiority. The gesture of the meditations is towards commonality. To risk an anachronism, Descartes' ultimate argument is Emersonian in form. If we take the time to explore the self, we will find within it a universal Self that escapes particularity and thus is broader and more widely connected than our prejudices often tell us.