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Written by the father of modern philosophy, Discourse on Method is a seminal work that outlines Descartes' method of intellectual inquiry. He explores the moral implications of the method, the reasonings by which he deduces that God exists and that man has a soul, and the implications of his philosophy on science. Discourse on Method includes Descartes' most famous and quotable statement: "I think; therefore, I am." This book is must reading for all who wish to have a solid grounding in philosophy and the development of Western thought. The full title of his work is Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences.
About the author
René Descartes (1596-1650) was a pioneering metaphysician, a masterful mathematician, and a significant scientific thinker. He was primarily a mathematician throughout his life, followed by a natural scientist or "natural philosopher" and a metaphysician. He created the methods in mathematics that allowed for algebraic (or "analytic") geometry. He co-formulated the sine rule of refraction, created a significant empirical account of the rainbow, and proposed a naturalistic explanation for how the earth and planets formed in natural philosophy, among other notable accomplishments. A world of matter with a few basic properties and interacting according to a few universal principles was his new conception of the natural world, which has influenced how we think about it even today. Descartes created the contemporary interpretation of the mind-body problem by proposing that this natural world had an immaterial mind that was directly tied to the brain in humans. He offered proof for the existence of God in metaphysics, demonstrating that the nature of matter is an extension and the essence of the mind is thought. Early on, Descartes asserted that he had a unique method, which he later claimed to have used in metaphysics, natural philosophy, and many applications of mathematics.
