Rene Descartes 1596-1650 Rene Descartes 1596-1650

C. Induction & Deduction:Descartes states:“These two methodare the most certainroutes to knowledge,”adding that any otherapproach should be“rejected as suspectof error anddangerous.”Thewholeedifice ofknowledgeIs built uponthe foundation ofIntuition and deduction.Intuition: “an intellectual activity or vision ofsuch clarity that it leaves no doubt in the mind.”Whereas fluctuating testimony of our senses &imperfect creations of our imaginations leave usconfused, intuition provides “the conceptionwhich an unclouded and attentive mind gives usso readily and distinctly that we are wholly freedfrom doubt about that which we understand.”Intuition gives us not only clear notions but alsosome truths about reality (e.g., I think, that Iexist; sphere has a single surface truths that arebasic, simple, & irreducible. It is by intuition thatwe grasp the connection between one truth &another.Deduction is “all necessary inference from factsthat are known with certainty.”Deductions are similar to intuition because theyboth involve truth. By deduction we arrive at atruth by a process, a “continuous anduninterrupted action of the mind. By tyingdeduction so closely with intuition, which is asimple truth we grasp immediately andcompletely, deduction indicates the relation oftruths to each other. Reasoning from a fact (notfrom a syllogistic premise) is at stake. So,remote conclusions are furnished only be 19deduction.