Philosophical Works

Philosophical Works

By René Descartes.

Translated by John Veitch.

Table of Contents

1. Titlepage
2. Imprint
3. Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One’s Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences
   1. Prefatory Note by the Author
   2. Discourse on the Method
      1. Part I
      2. Part II
      3. Part III
      4. Part IV
      5. Part V
      6. Part VI
4. Meditations on the First Philosophy: In Which the Existence of God and the Immortality of the Soul Are Demonstrated
   1. Dedication
   2. Preface to the Reader
   3. Synopsis of the Six Following Meditations
   4. Meditations on the First Philosophy
      1. Meditation I: Of the Things of Which We May Doubt
      2. Meditation II: Of the Nature of the Human Mind; and That It Is More Easily Known Than the Body
      3. Meditation III: Of God: That He Exists
      4. Meditation IV: Of Truth and Error
      5. Meditation V: Of the Essence of Material Things; and, Again, of God; That He Exists
      6. Meditation VI: Of the Existence of Material Things, and of the Real Distinction Between the Mind and Body of Man
5. Selections from the Principles of Philosophy
   1. Letter of the Author to the French Translator of the Principles of Philosophy Serving for a Preface
   2. Dedication
   3. Selections from the Principles of Philosophy
      1. Part I: Of the Principles of Human Knowledge
         1. I
         2. II
         3. III
         4. IV
         5. V
         6. VI
         7. VII
         8. VIII
         9. IX
         10. X
         11. XI
         12. XII
         13. XIII
         14. XIV
         15. XV
         16. XVI
         17. XVII
         18. XVIII
         19. XIX
         20. XX
         21. XXI
         22. XXII
         23. XXIII
         24. XXIV
         25. XXV
         26. XXVI
         27. XXVII
         28. XXVIII
         29. XXIX
         30. XXX
         31. XXXI
         32. XXXII
         33. XXXIII
         34. XXXIV
         35. XXXV
         36. XXXVI
         37. XXXVII
         38. XXXVIII
         39. XXXIX
         40. XL
         41. XLI
         42. XLII
         43. XLIII
         44. XLIV
         45. XLV
         46. XLVI
         47. XLVII
         48. XLVIII
         49. XLIX
         50. L
         51. LI
         52. LII
         53. LIII
         54. LIV
         55. LV
         56. LVI
         57. LVII
         58. LVIII
         59. LIX
         60. LX
         61. LXI
         62. LXII
         63. LXIII
         64. LXIV
         65. LXV
         66. LXVI
         67. LXVII
         68. LXVIII
         69. LXIX
         70. LXX
         71. LXXI
         72. LXXII
         73. LXXIII
         74. LXXIV
         75. LXXV
         76. LXXVI
      2. Part II: Of the Principles of Material Things
         1. I
         2. II
         3. III
         4. IV
         5. V
         6. VI
         7. VII
         8. VIII
         9. IX
         10. X
         11. XI
         12. XII
         13. XIII
         14. XIV
         15. XV
         16. XVI
         17. XVII
         18. XVIII
         19. XIX
         20. XX
         21. XXI
         22. XXII
         23. XXIII
         24. XXIV
         25. XXV
      3. Part III: Of the Visible World
         1. I
         2. II
         3. III
      4. Part IV: Of the Earth
         1. CLXXXVIII
         2. CLXXXIX
         3. CXC
         4. CXCI
         5. CXCII
         6. CXCIII
         7. CXCIV
         8. CXCV
         9. CXCVI
         10. CXCVII
         11. CXCVIII
         12. CXCIX
         13. CC
         14. CCI
         15. CCII
         16. CCIII
         17. CCIV
         18. CCV
         19. CCVI
         20. CCVII
6. Appendix
7. Endnotes
8. Colophon
9. Uncopyright

Imprint

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Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One’s Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences

Prefatory Note by the Author

If this Discourse appear too long to be read at once, it may be divided into six Parts: and, in the first, will be found various considerations touching the Sciences; in the second, the principal rules of the Method which the Author has discovered; in the third, certain of the rules of Morals which he has deduced from this Method; in the fourth, the reasonings by which he establishes the existence of God and of the Human Soul, which are the foundations of his Metaphysic; in the fifth, the order of the Physical questions which he has investigated, and, in particular, the explication of the motion of the heart and of some other difficulties pertaining to Medicine, as also the difference between the soul of man and that of the brutes; and, in the last, what the Author believes to be required in order to greater advancement in the investigation of Nature than has yet been made, with the reasons that have induced him to write.

Discourse on the Method

Part I

Good sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed; for everyone thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that those even who are the most difficult to satisfy in everything else, do not usually desire a larger measure of this quality than they already possess. And in this it is not likely that all are mistaken: the conviction is rather to be held as testifying that the power of judging aright and of distinguishing truth from error, which is properly what is called good sense or reason, is by nature equal in all