Vol. 7 — October 2026
Cover of Discourse on the Method

Discourse on the Method

Rene Descartes · English

Discourse on the Method, published anonymously in French at Leiden in 1637, is René Descartes's account of how he arrived at a method for reaching certain knowledge.

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Pagera Editor's Note

Discourse on the Method, published anonymously in French at Leiden in 1637, is René Descartes's account of how he arrived at a method for reaching certain knowledge. It first appeared as the preface to three essays on optics, meteorology, and geometry. In six parts, as his prefatory note explains, it reviews his education, states the rules of the method, sets out a provisional moral code, and in Part IV reaches the principle 'I think, therefore I am', from which he argues for the existence of God and of the soul. The last parts turn to physics, the movement of the heart, and the future of natural science.

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