A Discourse on Method by Descartes

A Discourse on Method by Descartes

Meditations and Principles

Translated by John Veitch

Introduction by A. D. Lindsay

The Discourse on Method, together with Meditations on the First Philosophy and Principles of Philosophy, develop the Cartesian theory of mind over matter and the divine origin of both.

Descartes could write Latin as excellently as any scholar of his age, but he yet laid stress on the importance of expounding his reasonings in his own tongue. In so far as any one person can be, he was the inventor of scientific method as we know it and his refusal to write scientific treatises exclusively in Latin was a symbol of his emancipation from scholastic tradition— sloughing off of medieval forms which is more remarkable when we remember that other pioneer works of modern scientific theory, such as Harvey's contemporary medical masterpiece The Circulation of the Blood (No. 262) and the entire published works of Sir Isaac Newton (who was a child of eight when Descartes died in 1650), first appeared in Latin. 'Unprejudiced natural reason... good sense these are the bases and the ideal of what we have come to regard as specifically French culture, and Descartes' work is as much a part of it as Molière's comedies or Montaigne's Essays.

Details:

• Paperback
• Conditie: Goed, geen notities/stempels, rug licht verkleurd
• ISBN: 0460015702
• Publishing House: Everyman's Library