René Descartes
is justly considered the father of modern philosophy
who founded the rational method as applicable
to philosophical research. He is the first philosopher
to begin with the impressions which are in our
intellect and lay down the laws which reason must
follow in order to arrive at reasonably certain
philosophical data.
Descartes was a scientist and a philosopher.
As a scientist he is noted for his studies in
mechanics, physics and mathematics. As a philosopher
he opened the period of modern philosophy. The
philosophical works published by the author were
four: Discourse on Method; Meditations on First
Philosophy, in which he proves the existence of
God and the immortality of the soul; Principles
of Philosophy, in four books, a systematic work
reviewing the entire thought of the author; The
Passions of the Soul, treating of the problem
of morality.
Descartes, in his work Discourse on Method, after
giving a criticism of the education which he had
received, goes on to set up the new method, according
to him, must be the basis of all scientific and
philosophical research.
“The first was to never accept anything
as true which I could not accept as obviously
true; that is to say, to carefully avoid impulsiveness
and prejudice, and to include nothing in my conclusions
but whatever was so clearly presented to my mind
that I could have no reason to doubt it.
The second was to divide each of the problems
I was examining in as many parts as I could, as
many as should be necessary to solve them.
The third, to develop my thoughts in order, beginning
with the simplest and easiest to understand matters,
in order to reach by degrees, little by little,
to the most complex knowledge, assuming an orderliness
among them which did not at all naturally seem
to follow one from the other.
And the last resolution was to make my enumerations
so complete and my reviews so general that I could
be assured that I had not omitted anything”
In simpler words ,
• To accept nothing as true that is not
recognized by the reason as clear and distinct;
• To analyze complex ideas by breaking them
down into their simple constitutive elements,
which reason can intuitively apprehend;
• To reconstruct, beginning with simple
ideas and working synthetically to the complex;
• To make an accurate and complete enumeration
of the data of the problem, using in this step
both the methods of induction and deduction.
To understand Descartes better, it should be noted
that he emphasizes on the subjective impressions
on the intellect when he says “ideas, clearly
and distinctly known” by the intellect.
Thus, working from one step to the next, there
will be achieved a system of truths all of which
are clear and distinct, because all participate
in the same degree of truth enjoyed by the first
idea, which was clear and distinct.
This, as we know, is the method adopted in mathematics.
Descartes transferred it to philosophy with the
intention of finding clear and distinct concrete
ideas, and of deducing from these, through reason
alone, an entire system of truths which would
also be real or objective.
Descartes, as a result of the principles already
established in his method, had first of all to
seek out a solid starting point (a clear and distinct
concrete idea), and from this opens his deductive
process. To arrive at this solid starting point,
he begins with methodical doubt, that is, a doubt
which will be the means of arriving at certitude.
This differs from the systematic doubt of the
Skeptics, who doubt in order to remain in doubt..
Seven steps: from metaphysical doubt to the metaphysical
foundations of natural science
STEP ONE: Search for intrinsically indubitable
foundations by means of metaphysical doubt
STEP TWO: Discovery of the Axiom: I exist and
am a thinking being
STEP THREE: Formulation of a rule connecting intellectual
virtue with truth: Whatever I perceive clearly
and distinctly is true
STEP FOUR: Proof of the existence of God as the
only adequate cause of my idea of God
STEP FIVE: Proof of God's perfection Interlude:
An ontological proof of God's existence
STEP SIX: Vindication of the rule
STEP SEVEN: Proof of the existence of material
objects
Doubt is thus carried to its extreme form. But
notwithstanding this fact, doubt causes to rise
in me the most luminous and indisputable certainty.
Even presupposing that the entire content of my
thought is false, the incontestable truth is that
I think: one cannot doubt without thinking; and
if I think, I exist: "Cogito ergo sum."
With Descartes, philosophy ceases to be the science
of being, and becomes the science of thought (epistemology).
Whereas, at first, being conditioned thought,
now it is thought that conditions being. This
principle, more or less realized by the philosophers
immediately following Descartes, was to reach
its full consciousness in
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