discourse on method by descartes :: essays research papers

DISCOURSE ON THE method acting OF RIGHTLY CONDUCTING THE REASON,AND SEEKING TRUTH IN THE SCIENCESPREFATORY NOTE BY THE AUTHORIf this Discourse appear too long to be memorialise at once, it may be dividedinto six Parts and, in the first, will be found various considerationstouching the Sciences in the second, the confidential information rules of the systemwhich the Author has discovered, in the third, certain of the rules ofMorals which he has deduced from this Method in the fourth, thereasonings by which he establishes the existence of God and of the HumanSoul, which ar the foundations of his Metaphysic in the fifth, the identifyof the Physical questions which he has investigated, and, in particular,the explication of the motion of the inwardness and of some other difficultiespertaining to Medicine, as also the difference between the somebody of man andthat of the brutes and, in the last, what the Author believes to berequired in order to greater advancement in the investigat ion of Naturethan has yet been made, with the reasons that watch induced him to write.PART 1Good sense is, of all things among men, the approximately equally distributed forevery one thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that those evenwho atomic number 18 the most difficult to satisfy in everything else, do not normallydesire a larger measure of this quality than they already possess. And inthis it is not likely that all are mistaken the conviction is kind of to beheld as testifying that the power of judging aright and of distinguishingtruth from error, which is aright what is called good sense or reason,is by nature equal in all men and that the diversity of our opinions,consequently, does not arise from some creation endowed with a larger shareof reason than others, but solely from this, that we conduct our thoughtsalong different ways, and do not fix our fear on the same objects.For to be possessed of a vigorous mentality is not enough the prime requisiteis righ tly to apply it. The sterling(prenominal) minds, as they are capable of thehighest excellences, are open likewise to the sterling(prenominal) aberrations andthose who travel very slowly may yet make outlying(prenominal) greater progress, providedthey keep always to the straight road, than those who, while they run,forsake it.For myself, I give never fancied my mind to be in whatever respect more perfectthan those of the generality on the contrary, I have often wished that Iwere equal to some others in promptitude of thought, or in clearness and