Quotation
Last reviewed:
“The first rule was never to accept anything as true that I did not evidently know to be such.”
René Descartes · Rationalism · Early modern · 1637
What does it mean?
Assent, on the usual reading of the first rule, should wait on what is so clear and distinct that hasty prejudice cannot smuggle it in. The rule is a procedure for an individual mind, set against the habit of collecting authorities. A rival reading takes it as a promise to doubt every practical decision all day, but in the same Discourse he adopts a provisional moral code so that life can continue while inquiry stays strict. The sentence is the first of four rules in part two, followed by division, order, and complete review.
Did René Descartes really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. The first of the four rules of method in the Discourse on the Method, part two, in a close English of Descartes's French. The other three concern division, order, and complete review. For the Meditations and the Principles, the Cottingham, Stoothoff, and Murdoch translation is the standard modern English. This sentence is a translation.
Where it comes from
Discourse on the Method, part 2
Approximate date: 1637.
How to use it
Mark one belief carried into a residents' association in Croydon because it is familiar, the way the bins have always been argued, rather than because it could be laid out as evident. Familiarity is not the clearance the rule allows, and the meeting will still have to decide before midnight. The rule is a standard for what may count as known, not a reason to postpone every shared chore until certainty arrives.
A mindset reading
The rule is severe, and he does not pretend to live every practical hour by it, which is why the provisional morality matters. Using the sentence to sneer at anyone who acts on less than proof ignores a distinction he drew on purpose between inquiry and the conduct of life. Haste and prejudice are the habits being ruled out, not action as such.
Understand the philosophy
Method, for Descartes, replaces scholastic commentary with a procedure one mind can run on its own. The key term is the evident, what is known clearly enough that assent is not a leap of custom. The other three rules concern breaking problems up, ordering the steps, and checking that nothing has been skipped, and that individual starting point is the modern turn both critics and heirs recognise. Cottingham's English is the guide for the technical works around this French text.
- knowledge
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
Assent, on the usual reading of the first rule, should wait on what is so clear and distinct that hasty prejudice cannot smuggle it in. The rule is a procedure for an individual mind, set against the habit of collecting authorities. A rival reading takes it as a promise to doubt every practical decision all day, but in the same Discourse he adopts a provisional moral code so that life can continue while inquiry stays strict. The sentence is the first of four rules in part two, followed by division, order, and complete review.
Did René Descartes really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. The first of the four rules of method in the Discourse on the Method, part two, in a close English of Descartes's French. The other three concern division, order, and complete review. For the Meditations and the Principles, the Cottingham, Stoothoff, and Murdoch translation is the standard modern English. This sentence is a translation.
Which work is it in?
Discourse on the Method, part 2 Approximate date: 1637.