Quotation
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“The seeker after truth must, once in the course of his life, doubt everything, as far as is possible.”
René Descartes · Rationalism · Early modern · 1644
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes the article as a limited instruction: a serious inquirer should, one time, withhold assent from whatever can be doubted, in order to find what remains, not live in permanent suspension. As far as possible admits that some things may not yield to the exercise. A rival reading hears a command to doubt every practical commitment every day, which the article's once, and the provisional morality elsewhere, are designed to block. It is the opening article of the Principles, a textbook statement of the method.
Did René Descartes really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Cottingham's translation of the Principles of Philosophy, part one, article 1. The once in a life and the as far as possible are both part of the rule. The Latin is his. This wording is a translation.
Where it comes from
Principles of Philosophy I.1
Approximate date: 1644.
How to use it
A student in a Leeds bedsit does not have to doubt the kettle in order to revise, and Descartes is not asking for that as a daily drill. He is asking for one rigorous pass, in a life of inquiry, through the prejudices that feel certain because they are old. The kettle can stay; The unexamined maxims that organise the revision, about what counts as knowing a text, are closer to the target.
A mindset reading
Once is the word that stops the method becoming a personality. People who identify as doubters, and people who are afraid of any doubt, both miss the limit. The aim is a foundation, after which assent can return to what survived; As far as possible is the other limit: he does not claim that a human being can doubt what doubt itself requires; The article is a rule for seekers, not a pose.
Understand the philosophy
The Principles restate the system in textbook articles, after the Meditations. The key term is universal doubt, a single methodical suspension of whatever is not certain, undertaken once. Article 1 sets the scope. Later articles rebuild from the thinking self and from God; Cottingham's English is the standard for the Latin of 1644; The Discourse had already told readers not to conduct ordinary life by this standard in the meantime.
- knowledge
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes the article as a limited instruction: a serious inquirer should, one time, withhold assent from whatever can be doubted, in order to find what remains, not live in permanent suspension. As far as possible admits that some things may not yield to the exercise. A rival reading hears a command to doubt every practical commitment every day, which the article's once, and the provisional morality elsewhere, are designed to block. It is the opening article of the Principles, a textbook statement of the method.
Did René Descartes really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Cottingham's translation of the Principles of Philosophy, part one, article 1. The once in a life and the as far as possible are both part of the rule. The Latin is his. This wording is a translation.
Which work is it in?
Principles of Philosophy I.1 Approximate date: 1644.