Descartes' Discourse on Method Flashcards

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the key concepts, rules of method, and philosophical arguments found in Descartes' Discourse on Method.

Descartes

An early modern rationalist philosopher with degrees in jurisprudence and medicine who sought to create a new foundation for reason.

Rationalist

The philosophical classification of Descartes, indicating his emphasis on reason as the primary source of knowledge.

Skeptical Experiment in Doubt

A radical process of throwing all existing knowledge into doubt to find what is truly knowable and certain.

House Metaphor

The analogy of demolishing a structure built on shaky foundations to rebuild it on solid grounds, representing the reconstruction of knowledge.

Analysis

The rule of method that involves dividing each problem into its constituent parts.

Synthesis

The rule of method that involves approaching thoughts in an orderly way and building upward from simple units of analysis.

Provisional Morality

A temporary set of rules to live by while undertaking the experiment in doubt, providing "another place to live" during the reconstruction of belief.

Moderation

A component of Descartes' provisional morality that involves embracing moderate opinions and avoiding extremes.

Conquer the Self

A provisional moral rule, influenced by the Stoics, suggesting one should alter oneself rather than the world, as we only truly control our thoughts.

Cogito ergo sum

The Latin phrase meaning "I think, therefore I am," which serves as the indubitable formula for the existence of the self.

Thinking Substance

The essential nature of the self according to Descartes, distinct from the physical body.

Body/Soul Dichotomy

The important Cartesian distinction between the physical body and the non-physical thinking substance.

Argument for the existence of God

The reasoning that because we are imperfect but have an idea of perfection, that idea must originate from a perfect being (God) rather than ourselves.