After years of studying the 'book of the world' to gain experience, one should turn to self-examination, making oneself the object of study and employing the full powers of the mind to choose the right paths to follow.
By René Descartes, from Discours de la méthode
Key Arguments
- Worldly experience ('studying the book of the world') provides preliminary insights but is not sufficient for guiding life.
- A deliberate resolution to focus inward enables the use of reason to determine which paths to follow.
- Employing all the powers of the mind suggests a systematic, methodical approach to self-governance and decision-making.
Source Quotes
decided a belief in regard to nothing of the truth of which I had been persuaded merely by example and custom; and thus I gradually extricated myself from many errors powerful enough to darken our natural intelligence, and incapacitate us in great measure from listening to reason. But after I had been occupied several years in thus studying the book of the world, and in essaying to gather some experience, I at length resolved to make myself an object of study, and to employ all the powers of my mind in choosing the paths I ought to follow, an undertaking
Key Concepts
- But after I had been occupied several years in thus studying the book of the world, and in essaying to gather some experience,
- I at length resolved to make myself an object of study, and to employ all the powers of my mind in choosing the paths I ought to follow,
Context
Part 1 transition from external observation to internal methodological reflection; the first-person voice indicates the author's own methodological stance.