Rene Descartes 1596-1650 Rene Descartes 1596-1650

II.Descartes’ Method:Looking for method like Math3. Mathematical certainty is the result of a special way of thinking,and if he could discover this way, he would have a method fordiscovering true knowledge, “of whatever lay within thecompass of my powers.”4. Mathematics is not itself the method but merely exhibits themethod. Specifically, he discovered that the mind is able toapprehend directly and clearly certain basic truths, that we arecapable of knowing some ideas with absolute clarity anddistinctness.5. Mathematical reasoning showed him that we are able todiscover what we do not know by progressing in an orderly wayfrom what do know.Descartes as convinced that his method contained “primary24rudiments of human reason” and that with it he could elicit “truths inevery field whatsoever.”