Discourse on the Method: Parts One and Two, and Three (Provisional Morals)

Discourse on the Method: Overview and Part One

Page 18: Discourse Structure and Part One Introduction

• Purpose of the Discourse: To outline a method for conducting one's reason well and seeking truth in the sciences.
• Divisions: The discourse is divided into six parts for easier consumption:
  1. Part One: Various considerations concerning the sciences.
  2. Part Two: The chief rules of the author's method.
  3. Part Three: Some rules of morality derived from this method.
  4. Part Four: Arguments for the existence of God and the human soul (foundations of metaphysics).
  5. Part Five: Order of physics questions investigated, particularly explanations of heart movement and medical difficulties, and the distinction between human and animal souls.
  6. Part Six: Requirements for further advancement in investigating nature beyond the author's achievements, and reasons for writing.

Page 18-19: Part One: On Good Sense and the Author's Perspective

• Good Sense (Reason):
  • Described as the "best distributed thing in the world," universally believed to be possessed in ample measure.
  • This suggests that the power of judging well and distinguishing true from false (reason or good sense) is naturally equal in all men.
  • Differences in opinions arise from people leading their thoughts along different paths and considering different things, not from unequal intellectual capacity.
  • It is crucial not just "to have a good mind," but primarily "to apply it well."
  • The "greatest souls" are capable of both the "greatest vices" and the "greatest virtues."
  • Slow, deliberate progress on the correct path is more effective than rushing and straying.
• Author's Self-Assessment:
  • Claims no presumption of a mind more perfect than ordinary men; he often wished for a quicker wit, keener imagination, or better memory.
  • Regarding reason, which defines humanity and distinguishes from beasts, he prefers to believe it is "whole and entire in each of us," aligning with philosophers who state differences in degree exist only in accidents, not in the forms or natures of individuals within the same species.
  • He considers himself fortunate to have, since youth, found paths and maxims that formed a method enabling him to gradually increase knowledge to the highest point his mind and life duration would allow.
  • He has reaped significant satisfaction from his progress in the search for truth, malgré a tendency towards diffidence and viewing most human endeavors as 'vain and useless.' He believes his chosen occupation is "solidly good and important."
  • Acknowledges the possibility of error and self-delusion, and the unreliability of favorable judgments from friends. His purpose in this discourse is to present his life and chosen paths as a "picture" for others to judge, hoping to learn from common responses.
  • Explicit Purpose: His aim is not to prescribe the method everyone ought to follow, but to illustrate how he has conducted his own reason.
  • He presents his essay as a "story" or "fable," implying it offers examples to imitate and others to avoid, hoping it will be useful without harm and that his frankness will be appreciated.

Page 20: Disillusionment with Traditional Letters

• Early Education: From childhood, he pursued "letters" (academic studies), convinced they led to "clear and assured knowledge of everything that is useful in life."
• Post-Study Doubts: Upon completing his studies at a renowned European school (where one typically becomes "learned"), he found himself "confounded by so many doubts and errors," realizing his efforts had only revealed his ignorance.
• Context of His Education:
  • He attended one of Europe's "most renowned schools," expecting to find learned men.
  • He learned all standard disciplines and vigorously pursued extra books on "curious and unusual" subjects.
  • His peers and teachers regarded him as competent, not inferior to those "destined to take the place of our teachers."
  • He believed his age was as flourishing and fertile in "good minds" as any preceding one.
• Conclusion on Traditional Doctrine: This led him to judge all others by himself, concluding there was no "doctrine in the world that was of the sort that I had previously been led to hope for"—i.e., offering certain and useful knowledge.

Page 20-21: Valuation and Critique of Academic Disciplines

• Appreciation for Academic Exercises (despite their shortcomings):
  • Languages: Necessary for understanding classical texts.
  • Fables: Stimulate the mind.
  • Histories: Uplift the mind and, if read judiciously, aid judgment. They are like a "conversation with the most honorable people of past ages," offering their best thoughts.
  • Oratory: Possesses "incomparable power and beauty."
  • Poetry: Has "ravishing delicacy and sweetness."
  • Mathematics: Offers "subtle stratagems" useful for satisfying curiosity, facilitating arts, and reducing labor.
  • Writings on Morals: Contain "many lessons and many exhortations to virtue that are very useful."
  • Theology: Teaches the path to heaven.
  • Philosophy: Provides means to "speak plausibly about all things and of making oneself admired by the less learned."
  • Jurisprudence, Medicine, Other Sciences: Bring "honors and riches" to practitioners.
  • General Benefit: It is good to examine all disciplines, even the "most superstition-ridden and the most false," to discern their true worth and avoid deception.

Page 21-22: Deepening Critique of Specific Disciplines

• Languages and Classical Texts (History/Fables):
  • He spent enough time on these.
  • "Conversing with those of other ages is about the same thing as traveling." While knowing various customs helps judge one's own more soundly (to avoid judging all differences as ridiculous), excessive travel makes one a "stranger in one's own country," and excessive curiosity about the past leads to ignorance of the present.
  • Fables: Make one imagine impossible events as possible.
  • Histories: Even accurate ones often omit "baser and less noteworthy details," distorting reality for readability. Those who model their conduct on such examples risk falling into "extravagances of the knights of our romances" (i.e., conceiving plans beyond their capabilities).
• Oratory and Poetry: Viewed as "gifts of the mind, rather than fruits of study." True persuasion comes from strong reasoning and clear thought ordering, even in a "Low Breton" dialect without rhetoric. Poetic greatness derives from natural rhetorical devices and pleasant expression, not the art of poetry itself.
• Mathematics: Delighted by its "certainty and the evidence of its reasonings." However, he hadn't yet recognized its true utility, thinking it served only "mechanical arts." He was astonished that nothing "more noble" had been built upon its "solid and firm" foundations.
• Morals (Ancient Pagans): Compared to "very proud and very magnificent palaces that were built on nothing but sand and mud." They exalt virtues but fail to adequately instruct on how to recognize them. Often, what they label as virtue is merely a form of "insensibility, pride, desperation, or parricide."
• Theology: Revered it and desired heaven. Yet, convinced that the path to heaven is open to all (ignorant and learned alike), and that revealed truths are beyond human understanding, he dared not subject them to his "frailty of reasonings." He believed examining such truths required "extraordinary assistance from heaven" and to be "more than a man."
• Philosophy: Observed that despite centuries of cultivation by "most excellent minds," it contained nothing without dispute, thus nothing certain. He was not presumptuous enough to believe he could fare better. Given that multiple learned opinions could exist on the same matter, with only one being true, he deemed "everything that was merely probable to be well-nigh false."
• Other Sciences: Since they borrow principles from philosophy, they were built upon "unstable foundations." The promised "honor nor the monetary gain" was insufficient motivation, as he was not compelled to make a career out of science for fortune. He valued glory little if it could only be acquired through "false pretenses."
• False Doctrines: Already understood the worthlessness of promises from alchemists, astrologers, magicians, or boastful pretenders, thus not being deceived by them.

Page 22-23: Abandonment of Formal Study and the "Book of the World"

• Resolution: Upon reaching an age that allowed him to leave his teachers' supervision, he completely abandoned "the study of letters." He resolved to seek knowledge only "within myself, or else in the great book of the world."
• Travels for Experience: He spent the remainder of his youth traveling, observing courts and armies, mingling with diverse people, gathering experiences, and reflecting on situations to gain profit.
• Value of Practical Reasoning: He found more truth in the reasonings of individuals concerning matters vital to them (where a bad judgment would have costly consequences) than in the speculations of academics in their studies. Academic speculations, he observed, often produce no practical effect and are sometimes valued more for their obscurity or detachment from common sense.
• Core Desire: His "great desire" was to learn to distinguish true from false, to see his way clearly in actions, and proceed with confidence in life.
• Challenge of Customs: Simply observing other men's customs revealed hardly anything certain, showing as much diversity as among philosophers' opinions.
• Benefit of Diverse Customs: He learned not to believe too firmly what was based only on example and custom, seeing that many things deemed "extravagant and ridiculous" by him were widely accepted elsewhere. This gradually freed him from errors that obscure "natural light" and hinder rational thought.
• Shift to Self-Study: After years studying "in the book of the world" and gaining experience, he resolved to also "study within myself" and use "all the powers of my mind" to choose his paths. This, he felt, was more successful than remaining with his country or books.

Page 23-25: Part Two: The Stove-Heated Room and the Argument for Individual Foundation

• Setting the Scene: While in Germany, called there by the Thirty Years' War, he was returning to the army from the emperor's coronation. Winter set in, detaining him "shut up by myself in a stove-heated room" (a poêle, a room heated by a ceramic stove, not sitting in a stove). Here, free from diversions and worries, he dedicated an entire day to conversing with his own thoughts.
• Initial Conception: Perfection from a Single Maker:
  • He considered that works comprising many pieces by various craftsmen often lack the perfection found in works created by a single individual.
  • Examples:
    • Buildings designed and completed by one architect are generally more attractive and better ordered than those patched up by many using existing structures.
    • Ancient cities, grown from villages over time, are typically poorly laid out compared to well-ordered plans an engineer designs on a vacant plain. Though individual buildings might show art, their collective arrangement—crooked streets, varied sizes—suggests chance rather than rational human will. He notes that even with officials for public aesthetics, it's hard to make finely crafted things from others' work.
    • Peoples who, having been half-savage, became civilized gradually, forming laws only out of necessity, are less well-ordered than those guided by a "prudent legislator" from their inception (e.g., Sparta's flourishing was attributed to the single source of its laws, all tending to the same end, despite individual laws being strange).
    • The true religion, with ordinances "made by God alone," must be incomparably better ordered than others.
    • Book Learning: Especially that based on probable reasonings without demonstrations, being a gradual accumulation of many differing opinions, falls short of the truth attainable through the "simple reasonings a man of good sense can naturally make."
    • Childhood Judgments: As children, we were governed by appetites and often conflicting teachers. Consequently, our judgments are almost impossibly as pure or solid as they would have been if we had full use of reason from birth and were guided solely by it.
• Analogy of Rebuilding (Public vs. Private):
  • People don't tear down an entire city to rebuild it in a new style, but many individuals tear down their own houses to rebuild, especially if foundations are weak or collapsing.
  • Application: It would be unreasonable for an individual to reform a state or overturn established academic orders. However, regarding his own opinions, he could discard them to replace them with better ones, or reconcile them to the "norms of reason." He believed this would lead to a better life than building upon unexamined foundations from youth.
• Cautions Regarding Public Reform: While his personal undertaking had difficulties, they were remediable and not comparable to difficulties in public reform.
  • "Great bodies" (like states) are hard to re-establish once disrupted, and their fall is violent.
  • Their imperfections (which are inevitable, given diversity) are often greatly mitigated by custom or imperceptibly corrected, sometimes more effectively than prudence could achieve.
  • Such imperfections are "almost always more tolerable than changing them would be." He uses the metaphor of well-worn roads winding through mountains being better to follow than trying to create more direct, but rocky and dangerous, routes.
• Disapproval of "Troublemaking Personalities": He cannot approve of restless individuals, not called by birth or fortune to public affairs, who constantly propose reforms. He fears his writing might suggest such folly. His plan was strictly to reform his own thoughts and build on "a foundation which is completely my own." He presents his work as a model without advising others to imitate it, noting that it may be too daring for many.

Page 25-27: Part Two: Why Not Everyone Should Follow This Path

• Not a Universal Prescription: The decision to discard all previously accepted opinions is not an example for everyone, particularly for two types of minds:
  1. Hasty/Impatient Minds: Those who overestimate their abilities, are quick to judge, and lack the patience for orderly thought. If they once doubt accepted principles and stray from common paths, they would get lost indefinitely.
  2. Modest/Teachable Minds: Those who judge themselves less capable of distinguishing truth from falsehood than others and can be instructed. They should follow the opinions of the learned rather than seeking better ones themselves.
• Author's Justification for His Own Path: He would have fallen into the second category if he had been taught by only one master or had not observed the disagreements among the most learned.
  • College Experience: He learned that "one cannot imagine anything so strange or so little believable that it had not been said by one of the philosophers."
  • Travels: He recognized that those with opinions contrary to his own were not necessarily "barbarians or savages" but often used reason as much or more than his own culture.
  • Influence of Custom: He reflected on how a person's mind and even appearance (e.g., clothing styles) are shaped by upbringing (e.g., French/German vs. Chinese/cannibals). This showed him that "custom and example" persuade more than "certain knowledge." He concludes that majority opinion is a poor guide for difficult truths.
  • Constraint: Unable to choose any single authority whose opinions he preferred, he felt "constrained to try to guide myself on my own."
• Approach to Self-Guidance: He resolved to proceed slowly and with great circumspection, like "a man who walks alone and in the dark," prioritizing not falling over advancing quickly.
  • He decided not to reject any opinions that had entered his mind without reason until he had thoroughly planned his undertaking and sought a true method for all achievable knowledge.

Page 27-28: Part Two: Re-evaluation of Existing Methods for Knowledge

• Past Studies: In his youth, he had studied logic (as part of philosophy) and geometrical analysis and algebra (as parts of mathematics). He believed these three disciplines ought to contribute to his plan.
• Critique of These Arts/Sciences:
  • Logic: Its syllogisms and most lessons served more to explain known things to others, or even to "speak without judgment concerning matters about which one is ignorant" (referencing Ramon Llull, ca. 1236-1315), rather than to learn. While containing some true and good precepts, they are so mixed with harmful or superfluous ones that separating them is as difficult as sculpting a perfect figure (like Diana or Minerva) from an unhewn marble block.
  • Ancient Analysis and Modern Algebra: Beyond applying only to "very abstract matters" and seeming of "no use" generally:
    • Ancient analysis: Too tied to figures, fatiguing the imagination more than exercising understanding.
    • Algebra: Overly subjected to rules and symbols, leading to a "confused and obscure art that encumbers the mind," rather than a science that cultivates it.
• Need for a New Method: He deemed it necessary to find a new method that would combine the advantages of logic, geometrical analysis, and algebra, while being free from their defects.
  • He draws an analogy: Just as a state is better ruled by "very few laws" that are "very strictly observed" (as multiplicity of laws offers excuses for vices), he believed a few clear rules would suffice.
• The Four Rules of His Method: He resolved to make a "firm and constant resolution not even once to fail to observe them" if the following four rules were to be sufficient:
  1. Rule of Evidence: "Never to accept anything as true that I did not plainly know to be such," meaning to carefully avoid "hasty judgment and prejudice," and to include only what presented itself to his mind "so clearly and so distinctly that I had no occasion to call it in doubt."
  2. Rule of Division: "To divide each of the difficulties I would examine into as many parts as possible and as was required in order better to resolve them."
  3. Rule of Order: "To conduct my thoughts in an orderly fashion, by commencing with those objects that are simplest and easiest to know, in order to ascend little by little, as by degrees, to the knowledge of the most composite things, and by supposing an order even among those things that do not naturally precede one another."
  4. Rule of Enumeration and Review: "Everywhere to make enumerations so complete and reviews so general that I was assured of having omitted nothing."

Page 28-30: Part Two: Application of the Method and Future Prospects

• Inspiration from Geometry: The "long chains of utterly simple and easy reasonings" used by geometers to achieve their most difficult demonstrations led him to believe that "all the things that can fall within human knowledge follow from one another in the same way."
  • He theorized that if one only avoids accepting falsehoods and rigorously adheres to the correct order of deduction, no truth is too remote to be reached or too hidden to be discovered.
  • The starting point for investigation is always "the simplest and easiest to know."
• Focus on Mathematics: Since only mathematicians among truth-seekers had found "demonstrations" (certain and evident reasonings), he had no doubt he should begin with the subjects they examined.
  • His primary expected utility was to train his mind to "nourish itself on truths and not to be content with false reasonings."
• Generalization of Mathematical Principles: He did not intend to learn all particular mathematical sciences but observed that despite differing objects, these sciences concurred in considering only "various relations or proportions."
  • He decided it would be more worthwhile to examine these proportions in general, using subjects that made their understanding easier, without restricting them. This would allow him to apply the method universally.
• Representation of Proportions:
  • For individual consideration, he supposed them as "relations between lines," finding nothing "more simple, or nothing that I could represent more distinctly to my imagination and to my senses."
  • For keeping many in mind or grasping them together, he would use "certain symbols, the briefest ones possible."
  • This approach would combine the best of geometrical analysis and algebra, correcting their respective defects.
• Success of the Method's Application:
  • His strict adherence to these few precepts provided such facility in resolving problems in geometry and algebra that, within two or three months, starting from the simplest and most general truths, he solved many previously difficult problems.
  • He also felt capable, even when initially ignorant, of determining the means and extent of resolution for other problems.
  • He argues this is not vain, because for any given thing, there exists only one truth; finding it means knowing all that can be known (like a child accurately performing arithmetic). The method's certainty mirrors arithmetic's rules.
• Satisfaction and Future Scope of the Method:
  • What pleased him most was the assurance of using his reason as well as possible, and the gradual habituation of his mind to conceive objects "more rigorously and more distinctly."
  • By not restricting the method to a particular subject, he promised himself to apply it "as usefully to the problems of the other sciences as I had to those of algebra."
• Prerequisite for Other Sciences: Philosophy: He realized that the principles of all sciences must be derived from philosophy, where he found no certainty yet.
  • Therefore, his most important and fear-inducing immediate goal was to establish certain philosophical principles.
  • He deferred this crucial task until he was more mature (he was then only 23), planning extensive preparation by rooting out wrong opinions, accumulating experiences as subjects for reasoning, and continually practicing his method to strengthen its use.

Page 30-32: Part Three: The Provisional Code of Morals

• Necessity for a Provisional Morality: Just as one needs a temporary dwelling while rebuilding a house, he needed a set of moral rules.
  • This was to avoid remaining irresolute in his actions while his reason required him to be irresolute in his judgments (i.e., doubting everything).
  • And also to live as happily as possible during this period of fundamental intellectual reconstruction.
  • He formulated a provisional code of "three or four maxims."
• First Maxim: Conformity and Moderation:
  1. Obey Laws and Customs: To obey the laws and customs of his country.
  2. Adhere to Religion: To constantly hold on to the religion in which he had been instructed from childhood "by God's grace."
  3. Follow Moderate Opinions: To govern himself by the "most moderate opinions and those furthest from excess"—specifically, those commonly accepted in practice by the most judicious people with whom he would interact.
     • Reasoning: Since he was subjecting all his own opinions to examination, he believed he could not do better than to follow the most judicious.
     • Even if other cultures had equally judicious people, it was most useful to align with those he lived among.
     • Discerning Opinions: To truly know people's opinions, one should observe "what they did rather than to what they said." This is because few are honest about their beliefs due to "corruption of our morals," and many don't truly know what they believe (the act of believing is distinct from knowing one believes).
     • Choosing Moderation: Among equally accepted opinions, he chose the most moderate, believing they are always more suitable for practical matters, probably the best (as "every excess usually being bad"), and would minimize error if he were mistaken.
     • Against Binding Promises: He counted "all the promises by which one curtails something of one's freedom" among the excesses. He didn't disapprove of laws that permit vows/contracts for weak minds or commercial security. However, since nothing in the world remains static, and he aimed to continually improve his judgments, he thought it a "grave indiscretion" to bind himself to an opinion or action that might later cease to be good or to be considered so by him.
• Second Maxim: Firmness and Resolution in Action:
  • "To be as firm and resolute in my actions as I could."
  • Once a decision was made, even on "most doubtful opinions," to follow it with "no less constancy than if they had been very well assured."
  • Analogy: Like travelers lost in a forest who, instead of wandering confusedly or stopping, choose a straight line in one direction (even if by chance) and stick to it. This ensures they will eventually reach somewhere, likely better than the middle of the forest.
  • Practical Truth: As life's actions often demand immediate decisions, when the truest opinions are unknown, one must follow the most probable. If probabilities are equal, one must still choose, and thereafter, for practical matters, treat the chosen opinion as true and certain due to the decision itself.
  • Benefit: This maxim freed him from the regret and remorse that typically afflict "frail and irresolute minds" who waver in their judgments of good and bad actions.
• Third Maxim: Conquer Self, Not Fortune:
  • "Always to try to conquer myself rather than fortune."
  • "And to change my desires rather than the order of the world."
  • To accustom himself to believing that "nothing that is completely within our power except our thoughts."
  • Consequence: After doing one's best regarding external things, anything unachieved is, "from our point of view, absolutely impossible." This alone seemed sufficient to prevent future desires for what he could not acquire, thus leading to contentment.
  • Nature of Will and Contentment: Our will naturally desires only what our understanding presents as possible. If all external goods are considered equally beyond our power, we will have no more regret over lacking things we thought were ours (like a birthright) than over not possessing kingdoms like China or Mexico.
  • Making a Virtue of Necessity: We similarly won't desire health if sick, or freedom if imprisoned, any more than desiring an incorruptible body of diamonds or wings to fly.
  • Requires Practice: This perspective requires "long exercise" and "frequently repeated meditation."
  • Philosophers' Secret: Descartes believes this is the "secret of those philosophers" who, in earlier times, freed themselves from fortune's domination. Despite sorrows and poverty, they could rival gods in happiness by constantly considering the limits prescribed by nature. They so perfectly believed only their thoughts were in their power that this alone prevented affection for other things, giving them absolute control over their thoughts, making them "richer, more powerful, freer, and happier than any other men."

Page 32-34: Part Three: Choosing a Life's Path and Years of Reflection

• Choosing His Occupation: He reviewed various human occupations and decided that the best course for him was to "continue in that very one in which I found myself"—spending his life cultivating his reason and advancing in the knowledge of truth using his prescribed method.
• Satisfaction from the Method: He experienced "extreme contentment" from this method, finding it the "sweetest or more innocent contentment" in life. Daily discoveries of "important and commonly ignored" truths brought deep satisfaction, overshadowing all else.
• Foundations of the Maxims: His three provisional maxims were rooted in his plan for continued self-instruction.
  • He would not have been content with others' opinions, as God gave each person individual reason to distinguish truth from falsehood, and he intended to examine these opinions himself.
  • He would not have followed others' opinions without scruples unless he held out the hope of finding better ones if they existed.
  • He could not have limited his desires or been content unless he followed a path that assured him of acquiring all possible knowledge and, by extension, all true goods within his power.
• Judgment and Virtue: He concluded that "it suffices to judge well in order to do well." To judge as best one can is to do one's very best, which means acquiring all virtues and general goods. Certainty in this leads to contentment.
• Resumption of Doubt and Travel: Having secured his maxims and the truths of faith (which remained primary), he felt free to discard the rest of his opinions.
  • He left the stove-heated room (where these thoughts originated) before winter was over, choosing to travel and converse with men rather than remain in solitude.
• Nine Years of Observation and Self-Purification: For the following "nine years," he wandered the world, aiming to be "more a spectator than an actor" in the "comedies" of life. He particularly reflected on factors that might cause error in any matter, and diligently rooted out past errors from his mind.
  • Distinction from Skeptics: He clarifies he was not imitating skeptics who doubt for doubt's sake or remain perpetually undecided. On the contrary, his entire plan aimed at gaining assurance and replacing "shifting earth and sand" with "rock or clay."
  • Success of His Approach: He claims success, as by seeking falsity or uncertainty through "clear and certain reasonings" (not feeble conjectures), he never found a proposition so doubtful that he couldn't draw a certain conclusion—even if that conclusion was merely that the proposition contained nothing certain.
  • Reusing Ideas: Like saving wreckage from an old house for a new one, he gained observations and experiences from destroying ill-founded opinions, which later helped him establish more certain ones.
• Continued Method Practice: He continued to practice his method, applying it generally to his thoughts and specifically to mathematical problems (and other problems made "similar to those of mathematics" by detaching them from shaky philosophical principles).
• Outward Life vs. Inner Progress: He lived an outwardly pleasant and innocent life, enjoying "honest diversions" like others without particular tasks.
  • However, he ceaselessly pursued his plan, believing he progressed more in truth knowledge this way than by simply reading books or associating with men of letters.
• Delay in Foundational Philosophy: Even after these nine years, he had not yet taken a stand on learned debates or begun to seek the foundations of a more certain philosophy.
  • The perceived difficulty, due to the apparent failures of many excellent minds before him, made him hesitant.
  • Motivation to Write: Rumors had spread that he had achieved his goal. He speculates this was due to his frank admission of ignorance or his clear reasons for doubting commonly held certainties, rather than boasting.
  • Driven by a desire to be worthy of this reputation, he resolved eight years prior to leave acquaintances and retire to a country (referring to the Netherlands) where the long wartime discipline created an environment conducive to enjoying the fruits of peace and uninterrupted study.