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Discourse on the Method
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About this work
Discourse on the Method is Rene Descartes's 1637 treatise on how to think clearly and seek truth, written, unusually, in plain French rather than scholarly Latin. It is the source of philosophy's most famous sentence, I think, therefore I am, and the launching point of modern rationalism: doubt everything you can, and build knowledge back up from what survives.
About the author — René Descartes
Rene Descartes (1596 to 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician often called the father of modern philosophy. He sought certainty by methodical doubt, rebuilding knowledge from the one thing he could not doubt: his own thinking.
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People also ask
What is Descartes's Discourse on the Method about?
A method for reaching certainty: systematically doubt everything that can be doubted, then rebuild knowledge only on what remains beyond doubt. It is both a philosophy and an intellectual autobiography.
Which famous quote comes from the Discourse on the Method?
I think, therefore I am. For Descartes, the very act of doubting proves that the doubter exists, giving him a first certainty to build on.
What is the Cartesian method?
Accept nothing as true unless clearly so, divide problems into parts, reason from the simple to the complex, and review thoroughly enough to be sure nothing is omitted.