Descartes\' Discourse on Methods Contributions

¶ … Descartes' Discourse on Methods

Contributions of Rene Descartes' works to the history of philosophy

An Analysis of the Discourse on Method and the "I think, therefore I am" statement.

Descartes' background

Rene Descartes is widely recognized as the father of modern philosophy. Also known as Renatus Cartesius (a latinization of his name), Descartes was a 17th century French scientist, mathematician and philosopher. His importance in the history of philosophy is so great because he was among the first to oppose scholastic Aristotleianism, which had influenced European philosophy and culture during a period of almost a thousand years. A French gentleman who signed himself "Lord of Perron" and who lived twenty years of his life (the most productive ones) in the tolerable and hospitable Dutch republic, Descartes remains a crucial figure in the history of philosophy.

He managed to combine (although it is not certain whether he did it consciously or willingly) the ideas of the past into a synthesis which was striking in its originality, but which was at the same time congenial to the scientific spirit of the age. Descartes is currently regarded as the progenitor of the modern spirit in philosophy.

Descartes' philosophical system

Descartes started his endeavor by methodically doubting knowledge based on authority, the senses and reason. He remains famous for claiming that "if he thinks, he exists," which is a certainty resulted from his intuition. "Cogito ergo sum" or "I think, therefore I am" is his most famous statement. His philosophical system was dual, with a clear distinction between mind, the essence of which is thinking, and matter, the essence of which is extension in three dimensions. The metaphysical system he developed is based on intuition, being derived by reason from innate ideas. However, physiology and physics were founded on sensory knowledge, thereby conferring them a mechanistic and empiricist status.

Descartes intended to publish in 1633 a work entitled "Le Monde" (the World), but he was stopped by the fact that he heard that Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei had been condemned by the Roman Catholic Church for publishing his opinion that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Since the concept developed by Copernicus had an essential role in his work, Descartes gave up publishing "Le Monde," with the hope that the Church would revise its attitude, retract Galileo's condemnation and allow him to publish his ideas.

Although he certainly feared the power of the church (after all, Giordano Bruno, Nicholaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei and other were excellent examples of how the Catholic Church dealt with thinkers and their innovative ideas), Descartes also hoped that his physics would some day replace the obsolete conception of Aristotle, which had dominated Western culture for hundreds of years (despite his incalculable merits, Aristotle had a terrible influence on the development of astronomy - he stated that the Earth is the center of the Universe, although this conception was about to be discarded in the Ancient world).

Descartes' Discourse on Method

Descartes published "Discours sur la Methode" (Discourse on Method), in 1637. His work was one of the first important modern philosophical works that were not written in Latin, the official language of the time for such texts. Descartes motivated his use of the French language by the fact that all people with good sense, including women (women had a lower social status of the time, as imposed by ancient Roman and medieval traditions) could read his work and learn to use reason on their own. His belief was that the natural light of reason was available for everyone, and that any person could rely on reason to distinguish true from false.

The method for utilizing reason in the search for truth in the sciences was debated and illustrated in three essays, which were parts of the Discourse on Method. "Dioptrics" contained the law of refraction (his dispute with Dutch physicist Huygens is famous). "Meteorology" was an occasion to explain the phenomenon of the rainbow, while in "Geometry" he gave an exposition of analytical geometry, which is a method of representing geometric figures by using algebraic equations, which allowed for many previous unsolvable problems to be solved. Another innovation was the introduction of the conventions of representing known numerical quantities with letters, such as a, b, c, unknowns with x, y, z, and squares, cubes and other powers with numerical superscripts (x2,x3 etc.) Although they may seem simplistic, these algebraic notations made mathematics much clearer than it was before.

In order to analyze his famous "I think, therefore I am statement, one should first discover which were the foundations on Descartes philosophy of mind. In his Discourse on Method and in Regulae ad Directionem Ingenii (Rules for the Direction of the Mind), written in 1628 and published in 1701, Descartes established four rules of reasoning:

had to look for some other method which, having the advantages of these three, would be free of their defects. Just as a multitude of laws often creates excuses for vices, so that the best regulated state is that which, having very few laws, makes those few strictly observed, instead of the great number or precepts which make up logic, I thought that the four following precepts would suffice, provided that I could make a firm, steadfast resolution not to violate them even once."

1) Nothing that is not self-evident should be accepted as a truth;

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 could have no reason to doubt it."

2) Problems are to be divided into their most simple parts;

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."

3) Problems are to be solved by proceeding from simple to complex

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."

4) Reasoning should be always rechecked.

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."

His mathematical education has certainly influenced Descartes into setting these rules, which were a direct application of algebraic procedures. One other issue on which Descartes insisted was that the key notions and the limits of each problem have to be clearly defined.

I was especially pleased with mathematics because of the certainty and clarity of its proofs; but I did not as yet realize its true usefulness; and, thinking that it was only useful in the mechanical arts, I was astonished that, since its foundations were so firm and solid, no one had built something higher upon it."

These rules of logic were accompanied by a provisional moral code (also contained in the Discourse), which should be used in the search of truth. (1) Local customs and laws must be obeyed. (2) Decisions should be made on the best evidence, and than they should be stuck to firmly, as they are have been proven to be certain. (3) the world cannot be changed as easily as desires. (4) Truth must always be sought after. The provisions of this code illustrate the characteristics of Descartes' moral type: conservatism, stoicism, decisiveness and dedication. Descartes considered knowledge a tree - metaphysics formed the roots, physics the trunk, and medicine, morals and mechanics the branches, which produce the fruits of knowledge.

Other works which concern the "I think, therefore I am" statement

Another important work, which could shed some light on Descartes' ideas, is his 1641 Meditationes de Prima Philosophia (Meditations on First Philosophy in Which is Proved the Existence of God and the Immortality of the Soul). The Meditations were published in Latin and were dedicated to his Sorbonne Jesuit professors. It was submitted before publication to eminent thinkers of the time, such as the Jansenist theologian and philosopher Antoine Arnauld, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes and the Epicurean atomist Pierre Gassendi. Their critical responses were collected and published with the Meditations. Although Descartes encouraged fierce disputes with certain Jesuit monks, these objections and replies are a landmark of cooperative discussion in science and philosophy during a period when dogmatism was considered a universal rule.

Descartes' method regarding knowledge

The Meditations are approached by Descartes with methodic doubt, claiming that all types of knowledge by which he was ever deceived were false. The foundation and inspiration of his arguments may be found in Pyrrhonism of the Greek skeptic Sextus Empiricus, which were reflected in Descartes' time by the writings of Pierre Charon and Michel de Montaigne.

Since experts may sometimes be wrong, knowledge based on authority is set aside. Sensory experiences are nor reliable for making any statements, since people often mistake one thing for another. (Descartes talks about mirages). Knowledge based on reasoning is not always trustworthy, because people often make mistakes. (adding numbers is a classical example). Finally, knowledge is deemed by Descartes to be illusory, since it may come from dreams or insanity or from demons able to deceive men by making them believe that they are experiencing the real world, when are they are in fact not doing so. (the metaphysical approach in Descartes work is can be easily recognized here).

Following this analysis of existent forms of knowledge, Descartes concludes that certainty can be found in his intuition that, even if deceived, if he thinks he must exist: "Cogito ergo sum." The thought ("cogito") is a self-evident truth that gives certain knowledge of a particular thing's existence, i.e. one's self, but only the existence of the person who thinks it is accepted as certain.

Finally, considering that all our thoughts which we have when we are awake can also come to us when we are sleeping without a single one of them being true, I resolved to pretend that everything I had ever thought was no more true that the illusions in my dreams. But I immediately realized that, though I wanted to think that everything was false, it was necessary that the "me" who was doing the thinking was something; and noticing that this truth -- I think, therefore I am -- was so certain and sure that all the wildest suppositions of skeptics could not shake it, I judged that I could unhesitatingly accept it as the first principle of the philosophy for which I was seeking."

If all one would know for certain was that one exists and if one acquiesced to Descartess method of doubting all things uncertain, the consequence would be that one would be reduced to solipsism, which is the view that except for one's individual self and thoughts, nothing else exists. To avoid this trap, Descartes claims that all ideas that are as clear and as distinct as the cogito concept must be true. If they were not, than the cogito, which is also a member of the class of clear and distinct ideas would also be plagued by doubts. Since the statement "I think therefore I am" cannot be doubted, all clear and distinct ideas must also be true.

It is somehow ironic that the "Cogito ergo sum" is based on another famous statement formulated by Descartes: "Dubito ergo cogito." (I doubt, therefore I think"). Since cogito is a self-evident truth, a clear and distinct idea on which is concept of existence is founded, a similar reasoning may be applied to the "Dubito ergo cogito" statement. The whole idea of thought is based on constantly doubting the realities of the world. Descartes actually begins his work by analyzing the problems of various types of knowledge (see above).

Starting from the assumption that he is working with clear and distinct innate ideas, Descartes claims that each mind is a spiritual substance, while each body is a material substance. Unlike bodies, which can be extended and broken into parts, the mind or soul are immortal, since they are indivisible. Descartes also provided some proof for the existence of God. (the constant threat from the Church made such a section necessary. The French philosopher's ideas were already at the limit of heresy, so further threats to the authority of the Church had to be avoided).

Descartes states that God is perfect, since his is an innate idea. He argues that God must exist, because, if He is not, He wouldn't be perfect.. This ontological proof of God's existence is one of the pillars of Descartes' rationalism, since it sets a pattern of reasoning about an existing thing solely on the conclusions derived from innate ideas, with no contribution whatsoever from sensory experience. Descartes also argues that God cannot deceive people, since he is perfect, so the world is not a fiction invented by the human mind, and therefore must exist. Descartes has therefore provided the metaphysical foundations for the existence of his own mind, of God and of the World.

One objection to Descartes' reasoning procedure was presented by Arnauld in his Cartesian Circle, which exposes the circularity in Descartes' ideas. In order to state the existence of God, one must have confidence in the clear and distinct idea of God. But in order to be certain that clear and distinct ideas are true, one must know that God exists, that He is perfect and that He never deceives man. Although, based on his rationalist "Cogito ergo sum" statement, Descartes rejected magic, he was not able to observe that the ontological proofs he presented were mere word-magic, founded on the superstition that things can be determined by ideas and thoughts. Empiricists, on the other hand, support the idea that the description of things must come after and not before one knows by using experience that they exist.

Descartes' influence on philosophy

Descartes influence on the development of philosophy was immense. The maxims of Leonardo (constituting the Renaissance world view) may be encountered in Descartes' work. The Discourse on Method is an evidence of the Empiricism in physiological researches. However, the influence of mathematics is predominant in Descartes' work. The Discourse on Method, which provides a synoptic view of Cartesian philosophy, presents it to be not a metaphysics based upon physics (such as in the case of Aristotle), but rather a physics based upon metaphysics (which was characteristic to the 17th century).

Descartes' mathematical bias was manifested in his determination to base natural sciences not in sensation and probability, as Bacon has, but rather on a principle of absolute certainty. Therefore, he bases his metaphysics on three concepts:

1) Employment of the procedure of complete and systematic doubt in order to eliminate every belief that does not pass the test of indubitability (skepticism, "Dubito ergo cogito);