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Activation Date: March 8, 1997
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Some comments on Part II of the Discourses

Of the first three parts, part II is the most philosophical
technically because is it here that Descartes describes his
method for the first time. 

(1) "This example convinced me that it would be unreasonable
for an individual to plan to reform a state by changing it
from the foundations up and overturning it in order to set 
it up again ... That is why I cannot by any means approve of
those meddlesome and restless characters who, called neither
by birth nor by fortune to the management of public affairs,
are yet forever thinking up some new reform."

These very politically conservative statements by Descartes may
be somewhat surprising. I wonder if they express his true opinions
or if he is here trying to assure the political and religious
authorities of his time that his philosophical musings are not
meant as a challenge to their power. This prudence would not be
uncalled-for considering that Galileo's problems with the church
had occurred not to long before. I suspect, however, that these
statements reflect both Descartes prudence and his own personal
feelings on the matter. I base this on the fact that Descartes
never once, to my knowledge, strayed into political theory in his
works and that he also tried very hard not to allow his philosophic
principles lead to any from of heresy.

(2) "But on further examination I observed with regard to logic
that syllogisms and most of its other techniques are of less use
for learning things than for explaining to others the things one
already knows or even ... for speaking without judgment about
matters of which one is ignorant."

I was startled by this when I first read it because it brought to
mind the attempt by many analytical philosophers during the early
20th century to reduce the whole of reality to symbolic logic. Of
course the project failed, to bad they did not heed Descartes' advise.
Funny, but it seems to me that what Descartes is saying here is very
simular to what Wittgenstein was saying in his latter works, albeit
in a much more cryptic fashion.

(3) " The first was never to accept anything as true if I did not
have evident knowledge of its truth: that is, carefully to avoid
precipitate conclusions and preconceptions, and to include nothing
more in my judgements than what presented itself to my mind so
clearly and so distinctly that I had no occasion to call it into
doubt."

This is Descartes' first of his four rules concerning his method.
The terms clear and distinct play so important a part in Descartes'
philosophy that I beg the reader's pardon for venturing a few
definitions.

clear - free from anything that dims, obscures or darkens.

distinct - not identical, individual, discrete

These are Descartes' criterions of truth. If something is both clear
and distinct to the mind, then it must be true. It is very important
to always keep this in the back of ones mind when reading him.

(4) "The second, to divide each of the difficulties I examined into
as many parts as possible and as may be required in order to resolve
them better. The third, to direct my thoughts in an orderly manner,
by beginning with the simplest and most easily known objects in order
to ascend little by little, step by step, to knowledge of the most
complex, and by supposing some order even among objects that have no
natural order of precedence."

These are the second and third rules of Descartes' method. They 
define what latter became to be known as the analytical method. 
This method assumes that the parts that make up the whole are
more important that the whole itself. One can almost divide all
philosophers into two groups. Those who agree with this assumption
and those who do not. The analytical method is also the foundation
of the scientific method, for it too make the same assumption. I
have no doubt that Descartes' hit upon these rules because he was
living in the middle of the scientific revolution.

The last clause in Descartes' statements above is very interesting.
"...by supposing some order even among objects that have no natural
order of precedence." To me this implies that mental constructs are
sometimes necessary in order to relate objects which seem to have no
obvious relationship with one another. Descartes here seems to be 
saying that the mind must play an active and creative role in his
method and is not simply a passive arbiter nor a mere calculating
machine. 

(5) "And the last, throughtout to make enumerations so complete,
and reviews so comprehensive, that I could be sure of leaving
nothing out."

This last rule is a safeguard to ensure completeness. Descartes
realizes that if any pertinent information is left out of the
analysis, then the analysis will be flawed. Why did Descartes
make this his last rule and not his first? I believe that he did
so because Descartes relies heavily on deductive rather than
inductive reasoning, and if one were using an inductive method
listing this rule first would have almost been mandatory. Descartes
was not an empiricist by any means and he always favored deductive
reasoning over inductive reasoning. This attitude can be clearly
seen in the paragraph immediately following rule four in the text.
In the end Descartes was influenced much more by pure mathematics
then by empirical science.

In the rest of book II Descartes relates that how, at the tender
age of 23, he used his method to hit upon a mathematical breakthrough
that is now known as analytical geometry. The x,y graphs, formulas
for straight lives and slopes that we all learned in high school 
algebra were his invention. 

I will post some comments on book III in a few days.

Please post any comments you may have!!
It's getting kinda lonely out here lately.

Paul John Barnette Jr.


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