Ideas from 'A Discourse on Method' by René Descartes [1637], by Theme Structure

[found in 'Discourse on Method/The Meditations' by Descartes,René (ed/tr Sutcliffe,F.E.) [Penguin 1968,0-14-044206-5]].

green numbers give full details    |     back to texts     |     expand these ideas

---

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 1. Philosophy

3600	Slow and accurate thought makes the greatest progress

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy

3601	Most things in human life seem vain and useless

3602	Almost every daft idea has been expressed by some philosopher

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 4. Aims of Reason

3603	Methodical thinking is cautious, analytical, systematic, and panoramic [PG]

2. Reason / F. Fallacies / 4. Circularity

3612	Clear and distinct conceptions are true because a perfect God exists

3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 8. Subjective Truth

3610	Truth is clear and distinct conception - of which it is hard to be sure

11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / a. Beliefs

3605	We can believe a thing without knowing we believe it

11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 1. Certainty

1583	In morals Descartes accepts the conventional, but rejects it in epistemology [Roochnik]

11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito

3607	In thinking everything else false, my own existence remains totally certain

12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 6. A Priori from Reason

3617	I aim to find the principles and causes of everything, using the seeds within my mind

12. Knowledge Sources / C. Rationalism / 1. Rationalism

3611	Understanding, rather than imagination or senses, gives knowledge

13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 4. Foundationalism / a. Foundationalism

3606	I was searching for reliable rock under the shifting sand

13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 6. Scepticism Critique

3604	When rebuilding a house, one needs alternative lodgings

14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 3. Experiment

3618	Only experiments can settle disagreements between rival explanations

15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 7. Animal Minds

3615	Little reason is needed to speak, so animals have no reason at all

16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 3. Self as Non-physical

3609	I am a thinking substance, which doesn't need a place or material support

17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 1. Dualism

3608	I can deny my body and the world, but not my own existence

3613	Reason is universal in its responses, but a physical machine is constrained by its organs

17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 2. Interactionism

3616	The soul must unite with the body to have appetites and sensations

18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 6. Artificial Thought / c. Turing Test

3614	A machine could speak in response to physical stimulus, but not hold a conversation

23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / d. Virtue theory critique

1581	Greeks elevate virtues enormously, but never explain them

26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 7. Strictness of Laws

16686

God has established laws throughout nature, and implanted ideas of them within us