Descartes’ Method: Reason, Truth, and the Role of Doubt
Chapter 2: The Need for a Method
The theme of this passage from the Discourse on Method concerns Descartes’ attempt to prove the necessity and usefulness of reason when employing a method in the search for truth. He presents what might be the rules of the present methodology. This issue could arise on these ideas:
The Need for a Method
- Topical scientific development does not occur in a particular science without the application of a method.
- Sciences are classified depending on their method.
- Natural science uses an experimental method.
- The humanities use the comprehensive method.
Personally, emphasis should be given to the use of a method. An example of this could be the realization of the comment text of this review following a series of predetermined steps.
Mathematization and Scientific/Technological Development
The Discourse on Method proposes a method and a criterion of truth that are the heirs of mathematics. Mathematization is a feature that has since permeated virtually all areas of Western science. Discoveries in natural sciences and technical applications have been reducing things to quantities. The development of social sciences and humanities is also explained as a consequence of the new vision of man that came with Cartesianism.
Use of Doubt
The rules of evidence lead Descartes to question the opinions and beliefs he holds. This attitude is certainly present in contemporary philosophy. Personally, this attitude of doubt may prompt us to seek the truth and question everything, to not allow anything to go unseen and ununderstood, and to think freely.
Chapter 4: Applying the Method
The theme of this passage from the Discourse on Method concerns Descartes’ attempt to apply the method designed in previous sections to achieve his objective.
The Role of Subject Knowledge
Descartes inaugurates a new approach: knowledge is a product of the subject. Descartes opens a new philosophy to take a radical turn from naive objectivism to transcendental subjectivism, to discover the deepest sense of self and values that proceed from it. This Cartesian idea could be related to the role that the observer takes in quantum physics, because according to it, until they are observed, things exist simultaneously in several states. These states are not “real” but “virtual.”
Demonstration of the Existence of God
In this issue, Descartes reflects a medieval approach. Today, it is considered that religion is a matter of personal belief and that the existence of God is unprovable. One can believe in God, and this belief is worthy of respect, but it is impossible to produce a rational demonstration of the existence of God to convince the agnostic or atheist. Is there anything out there? The proof of the existence of God is fundamental in the philosophy of Descartes. God functions as a bridge between the self and the world: we can be sure of the existence of the world because we are sure that there is God. Certainty about the world cannot appreciate the data provided to us by the senses, for he distrusts sensible data. This suspicion of “the deception of the senses” is an idea now assumed to a greater or lesser extent in psychology, and even physics.