Discourse on Method

Even though he purports to sweep the slate clean and start from scratch it doesn't feel like it. He starts with "I think therefore i am" and i am quite content with that but then out of nowhere he produces perfection, imperfection, dependency, composition and other concepts which without first analysing and defining he uses to construct God and other things. That really baffled me for it didn't feel at all like a rigorous approach. Though when i think about it it doesn't seem possible to define things without having some things already defined so the whole clean slate approach is not possible in the absolute. He had to start somewhere, with some precepts but i just don't like the precepts he chose for start. Too much was presupposed for show more my liking.
Still the book was delightful especially for the glimpses into Rene's life and his struggles around philosophising and publication. show less

Clássica prosa conselheira do início do moderno, possui uma fluidez muito prazenteira e introduz de modo leve inúmeras preocupações cartesianas: a moderação no viver, a importância do individualismo e da descoberta individual, a separação corpo e mente, como uma boa ordem investigativa e procedimental leva a resultados mais consistentes. Além disso, já incita o leitor mais curioso a ler suas meditações.

Um livro surpreendentemente claro e acessível. Todas as ideias são explicadas logica e pacientemente, de acordo com o próprio método indicado pelo autor. Descartes parece relutante, ou no mínimo, cauteloso em apresentar as suas ideias, principalmente depois de saber o que aconteceu com Galileu. Todos os raciocínios aparecem quase pé ante pé ao longo do texto, desde a prova da existência de deus, até à imortalidade da alma e sobre a inteligência artificial de "máquinas que imitam o comportamento humano".

Like a warm bath for the mind, and takes about as long - parts 1-4 at least. Reading it in English, I wonder if he is so straightforward and readable in French. Parts 1-4 are eloquent and minimal, and certainly worth re-reading - meditations of reason. Part 5, home to the famous 'cogito ergo sum' line, is pretty tedious after the first page and that very quote. Just skip part 6. The introduction - despite being longer than the actual text - is worth reading. It sets the scene and gives the historical context. Interesting to note that it was originally published in French, so perhaps the line we know him by should rather be 'je pense donc je suis'. If it had ended on that line, I would rate it 5.

Together with Bacon's New Organon, this small, lucid book is the methodological foundation of the entire scientific revolution - the "birth" of modern science during the 17th century - & perhaps even of technology as such. The celebrated & hypnotic mantra "nous rendre comme maîtres & possesseurs de la nature" - to acquire command of all nature by the radically cautious & methodical acquisition of knowledge that Descartes outlines - became a programme, a prize, an obsession, & decided, for better or worse, the size & shape of our universe.

This book marks the shift in philosophical speculation, from the Nature-Grace ethos of the Medieval age to that of Nature-Freedom of the Enlightenment. Descartes essentially put an X through the then standing assumptions regarding knowledge. Agree or disagree, this book defines much of Western thought to this day.

This is an important book. Funny, most of the really powerful and long-lasting ideas have been in brief books like this one.

This work contains his famous "cogito, ergo sum" after which he seems to leap to other conclusions, including God, that do not necessarily follow. He lived for 8 productive years in wartime Holland, where he was able to isolate himself by moving frequently. He did not publish some of his works, having seen the effect for Galileo of publishing great discoveries. This may also have influenced some of his proofs of God: causality implies that something created all of this and I have imperfections; hence there must be something greater than me. He also advocated the power of one master workman in science as in other crafts, and perhaps saw himself as destined to make all of the discoveries along the paths he was pursuing. He observed that show more what led to knowledge was not so much good sense as pursuit of it through mental effort. He observed that, while giving his mind somewhat of a grounding, formal schooling served mostly to disclose his ignorance and that of those around him. His philosophical method includes regarding as false anything only probable and yet he notes that learned philosophers have debated for years without finding truth in the same matters. Amidst all of this, he is also able to make such practical observations as one regarding fashion: that what pleased people 10 years ago will again please them 10 years hence, and yet be ridiculous today. show less