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Philosopher

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René Descartes

1596–1650 · Rationalism · Early modern

Rene Descartes, born in 1596, died in 1650, set out to rebuild knowledge from what could survive methodical doubt. The Discourse on the Method of 1637 is a French public introduction, with the cogito in the form of a short inference and with a hope that we might become, as it were, lords and masters of nature for the sake of medicine.

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The Meditations of 1641 slow the same path down in Latin. A malicious demon is supposed, existence is affirmed whenever it is conceived, the thinker is a thinking thing, and error is traced to a will wider than the intellect. God is argued from the idea of a perfect being, likened to a craftsman's mark.

The Principles of 1644 restate the system as textbook articles, including the instruction to doubt once, as far as possible, not every hour. He also wrote geometry and a physics. John Cottingham's English, with Stoothoff and Murdoch, is the standard modern translation. The cogito is a foothold. It is not the house.

Start here

Discourse on the Method, parts 1, 2, and 4, then Meditations 1 and 2 in Cottingham

The Discourse gives the public project. The first two Meditations show how much slower and smaller the foothold is than the slogan.

Quotations

“The first rule was never to accept anything as true that I did not evidently know to be such.”

René Descartes · Rationalism

knowledgemind
Paraphrase or translation
Meaning & application
“I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind.”

René Descartes · Rationalism

knowledgeselfmind
Paraphrase or translation
Meaning & application
“I will suppose that some malicious demon of the utmost power and cunning has employed all his energies in order to deceive me.”

René Descartes · Rationalism

knowledgemind
Paraphrase or translation
Meaning & application
“We could make ourselves, as it were, the lords and masters of nature.”

René Descartes · Rationalism

knowledgepowersociety
Paraphrase or translation
Meaning & application
“The idea of God is like the mark of the craftsman stamped on his work.”

René Descartes · Rationalism

knowledgemeaningmind
Paraphrase or translation
Meaning & application
“The seeker after truth must, once in the course of his life, doubt everything, as far as is possible.”

René Descartes · Rationalism

knowledgemind
Paraphrase or translation
Meaning & application

Key ideas

  • Methodical doubt

    A seeker should, once in a life and as far as possible, suspend whatever can be doubted in order to find what remains.

  • The thinking thing

    Existence is certain in the moment it is conceived, and what is then known is a thing that thinks, not yet a full account of the body.

  • Will and error

    The will reaches further than clear perception, and error is that overreach rather than a deceiving God.

  • Mastery

    The practical hope of the method is useful knowledge, especially medicine, stated with an as it were and not as a completed conquest.

Major works

  • Discourse on the Method (1637)

    French public introduction. The short cogito is in part 4. The mastery sentence is in part 6.

  • Meditations on First Philosophy (1641)

    The careful Latin path. Cottingham, Stoothoff, and Murdoch are the standard English.

  • Principles of Philosophy (1644)

    Textbook articles. Part 1, article 1 limits universal doubt to once in a life.

Influences

Influenced

Common misreadings

  • The cogito already proves bodies, other minds, and a moral law.
  • The demon is a belief he adds to his religion, rather than a supposition adopted for inquiry.

Famous lines René Descartes never said

None of the lines this library files for René Descartes is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.

FAQ

What is the best book to start with?

Discourse on the Method, parts 1, 2, and 4, then Meditations 1 and 2 in Cottingham The Discourse gives the public project. The first two Meditations show how much slower and smaller the foothold is than the slogan.

What is the most famous quote?

This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for René Descartes that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “I think, therefore I am.” (Discourse on the Method, part 4 (1637); Latin cogito, ergo sum in Principles of Philosophy I.7 (1644), Paraphrase or translation).

What is the most misquoted line?

None of the lines this library files for René Descartes is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.

What is one key idea, in a sentence?

Methodical doubt: A seeker should, once in a life and as far as possible, suspend whatever can be doubted in order to find what remains.