Selections from René Descartes 'Discourse on Method' published in 1637, including the Cogito argument for existence of the self and proof of God's existence.
Selections from René Descartes 'Discourse on Method' 1637
1. Selections from René Descartes ‘Discourse on Method’ 1637
While I was trying
to think everything
had to be false
it had to be the case that I,
who was thinking this,
was something . . .
I am thinking,
therefore I exist.
2. While I could pretend that
I had no body and that
there was no world and
no place for me to be in,
I still couldn’t pretend
that I didn’t exist.
This taught me that
I was a substance whose
whole essence or nature
is simply to think.
This me – this soul which
makes me what I am –
is entirely distinct from
the body, and would still
be what it is even if
the body didn’t exist.
3. I reflected on the fact
that I was doubting,
and that consequently
I wasn’t wholly perfect.
Where did I get my ability
to think of something
more perfect than I am?
This ability had to come
from something
that was in fact
more perfect than me.
The idea had been
put into me
by God.
4. I was sure that God
doesn’t have any of the properties
that indicate imperfection.
I found that this idea
of a perfect being
included existence.
I concluded that
the existence
of this perfect being,
God,
is at least as certain
as any geometrical proof.
5. Whatever we conceive
very clearly and distinctly is true,
is assured only because
God exists and is a perfect being,
and because everything in us
comes from him.
Our ideas or notions, being
real things that get from God
everything that is clear
and distinct in them,
must be true in every respect
in which they are clear and distinct.
6. If we quite often have ideas
containing some falsity . . .
they are in us
in this confused state
only because we aren’t
completely perfect.
If we didn’t know that everything
real and true within us
comes from a perfect
and infinite being . . .
we would have no reason
to be sure that they
had the perfection
of being true.
7. Selections from René Descartes
Discourse on Method
compiled by Jason Beale 2012
Text taken from
www.earlymoderntexts.com