Excerpt from Descartes's "Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences"

Excerpt from Descartes's "Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences"

The quintessential treatise on Rationalism, written by Descartes, the philosopher most commonly associated with Rationalism.

In this excerpt, Descartes argues that common structures of knowledge and belief are merely "errors powerful enough to darken our natural intelligence," and thus places rational thought above all other modes of information. In doing so, Descartes presents a model which is fundamentally contrary to that of Hume in Hume's A Treatise on Human Nature.

René Descartes

The Project Gutenberg

The Project Gutenberg

1637

English, translated from French

Discourse on the Method, which is an abbreviation of the title.

Sentimentalism, the philosophical movements behind the development of the Scientific Method, a contrary model of the primary power of the mind to that of Hume.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/59/59-h/59-h.htm