figure. The attempt to find a kind of certitude that left no room for doubt, and the discovery of that certitude in the existence of the thinking self (cogito ergo sum), constitute the deliberate choice of a position that is open to doubt. Why should we imagine that human beings should have available to them a basis for certitude other than the one provided by a trustful dependence on the Author of our being? Descartes’ starting point already begs that question. But the secular societies that have