DISCOURSE ON THE METHOD OF CORRECTLY CONDUCTING ONES REASON AND SEEKING TRUTH IN THE SCIENCES

'I CONCLUDED THAT I WAS A SUBSTANCE WHOSE WHOLE ESSENCE OR NATURE RESIDES ONLY IN THINKING, AND WHICH, IN ORDER TO EXIST, HAS NO NEED OF PLACE AND IS NOT DEPENDENT ON ANY MATERIAL THING.' DESCARTES'S A DISCOURSE ON THE METHOD OF CORRECTLY CONDUCTING ONE'S REASON AND SEEKING TRUTH IN THE SCIENCES MARKS A WATERSHED IN EUROPEAN THOUGHT; IN IT, THE AUTHOR PROVIDES AN INFORMAL INTELLECTUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN THE VERNACULAR FOR A NON-SPECIALIST READERSHIP, SWEEPS AWAY ALL PREVIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITIONS, AND SETS OUT IN BRIEF HIS RADICAL NEW PHILOSOPHY, WHICH BEGINS WITH A PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE SELF (THE FAMOUS 'COGITO ERGO SUM'), NEXT DEDUCES FROM IT THE EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF GOD, AND ENDS BY OFFERING A RADICAL NEW ACCOUNT OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD AND OF HUMAN AND ANIMAL NATURE. THIS NEW TRANSLATION IS ACCOMPANIED BY A SUBSTANTIAL INTRODUCTORY ESSAY WHICH DRAWS ON DESCARTES'S CORRESPONDENCE TO EXAMINE HIS MOTIVATION AND THE IMPACT OF HIS GREAT WORK ON HIS CONTEMPORARIES. DETAILED NO