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A Discourse of a Method for the Well Guiding of Reason

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About this book

This is a 1649 London translation of Descartes's Discourse on method, with a preface to the reader that likens the translation to a copy of a painting by Titian or Van Dyck. One passage holds that the power of judging truth from falsehood is naturally equal in all people, and that the main thing is to apply it well. Descartes says he never thought his mind more perfect than an ordinary man's, and that he has found a method for increasing his knowledge by degrees.

In another passage he argues that we should trust the evidence of reason and not our senses or imagination. His examples include the size at which we see the sun and the head of a lion set on the body of a goat, which does not prove that a chimera exists. Elsewhere he explains why he held back a treatise he had in hand and resolved to publish none while he lived.

About the author

René Descartes

René Descartes (1596-1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist often called the father of modern philosophy. He invented analytic geometry, argued for radical doubt as the path to certainty, and coined the phrase 'I think, therefore I am,' reshaping Western thought.

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Book facts

Author: René Descartes
Reading time: About 100 minutes
Pages: 40
Language: English
Genre: Science
Formats: PDF, EPUB, Read online