A guide to thought and life: Descartes’ “Discourse on Method”

In this week’s video, I read through and explain Parts 1-4 of René Descartes’ Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences. This is a masterwork of modern philosophy and was extremely influential in setting out the core tenets of rationalism that would guide much discussion of philosophy throughout the Modern period. The video is below followed by some very brief comments.

The main topics of the Discourse include:

• Some reflections on Descartes’ upbringing and his view of the science
• His arrival at his four precepts for thinking clearly.
• Some maxims on how to live and conduct oneself well
• A rough outline of his philosophical system including:
  • The method of doubt.
  • “I think, therefore I am”
  • The immortality of the soul
  • The existence of God.
• An outline of his astronomy (discussed in detail in Le Monde, which was published posthumously).
• His theory of blood circulation
• His views on writing philosophy and promoting his ideas in French, and general reflections on censorship and writing under the threat of censorship or worse by the Church.

His philosophical system receives separate and more detailed treatment in his Meditations on First Philosophy, but here he offers it to us in broad outline, though with some dense argumentation in need of much explanation. For me, the most interesting parts of the Discourse are Descartes’ four precepts for effectively using one’s reason or understanding and three maxims for conducting oneself in daily life. To be honest, I use each of these and I think they offer a pretty good way to live one’s life. I’ve offered my own everyday paraphrase of the maxims and precepts below, just for ease of access and because I think they are important, but please see the full video for a detailed discussion.

The Four Precepts

1. Accept as true only what you are certain of. In other words, hold your beliefs to a high standard. Don’t believe things you aren’t 100% certain of, especially in matters of science or learning.
2. Break problems down into the smallest possible units. Don’t try to handle a complex problem all at once. Break things down. Pretty good advice!
3. Start with the easy parts of a problem and then move to the more difficult parts. Basically, when you believe only what you are certain of, and break problems down, you are left with a series of smaller problems that have varying degrees of certainty. Some parts of the problem may be easy to be certain about, while others require more reflection and research. Descartes’ advice is to prioritize the easy, certain stuff first, and that will leave you better equipped to handle the more difficult stuff.
4. Carefully and exhaustively review your work. Self-explanatory. Review your work!

The Three Maxims

1. Obey the rules and customs of one’s country and commonsense morality. Basically, don’t get in trouble with the law and don’t cause trouble for others. Use common sense to be a decent person.
2. Be decisive in your actions and decisionmaking, even in the absence of certainty. Although Descartes believed that certainty was the gold standard for any of our beliefs, he wasn’t naive about the fact that most of our beliefs seldom meet that standard. But even when they don’t we need to make decisions in the absence of perfect evidence, and when we do, we should do so decisively.
3. Focus on improving yourself rather than improving external conditions. This is essentially a commitment to Stoicism, which was an extremely popular secular ethics throughout European history among the learned. You can see my video on Epictetus’ Enchiridion here to learn more about Stoicism from a primary source.

Parts 5 and 6 will get a separate video. Those discuss Descartes’ thoughts on certain scientific discoveries he found especially important (namely, astronomy and medicine), and his rationale for publishing the Discourse. At the risk of simplifying things, I’ll say that the main philosophical core of the Discourse is in Parts 1-4.