Los escépticos modernos y la génesis del cogito cartesiano

in his reply to father bourdin's objections to the metaphysical meditations, descartes made clear that the skeptics he wanted to refute were part of a growing and atheistical sect, id est, a philosophical and political danger. it is quite sure that "erudite libertinism" was the "sect" pointed out in this allusion, a movement who had in la mothe le vayer its best skeptical member. in order to confirm that cartesian metaphysics belongs to that debate where it was supposed that the very foundations of social life were defied, some dialogues of le vayer are presented in this paper. our purpose is to compare le vayer's skepticism with the scepticism that descartes offers in his meditations ten years later.