Rene Descartes 1596-1650 Rene Descartes 1596-1650

II. Descartes’ Plan:His ideal was to arrive at a system of thought whose variousprinciples were true and were related to each other in such a clearway that the mind could move easily from one true principle toanother. But in order to achieve such an organically connected setof truths, Descartes felt that he must make these truths “conform toa rational scheme.” With such a scheme he could not only organizepresent knowledge but could “direct our reason in order to discoverthose truths of which are ignorant.” His first task therefore was towork out his “rational scheme,” his method.17