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Discourse on the Method
René Descartes
Rationalism · Beginner
Written in French for a wide audience, it announced the modern turn toward the knowing subject.
René Descartes · first circulated 1637
Main ideas
- Systematic doubt used as a method rather than as scepticism.
- Certainty sought in the thinking self.
Important themes
DoubtMethodCertainty
Reading context
Published in French in 1637 rather than Latin, so that anyone who could read might follow it, and prefaced to three scientific essays it was meant to justify. Descartes is describing a method he says he found for himself, not handing down a system.
How to approach it
It is short. Parts 2 and 4 carry the method and the famous conclusion about thinking and existing. Read it before the Meditations, which work the same ground far more slowly.