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Title  A Discourse on Method

Author  René Descartes

Release Date  July 1  2008  EBook  59 

Language  English

Character set encoding  ASCII

    START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DISCOURSE ON METHOD    




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        DISCOURSE ON THE METHOD OF RIGHTLY CONDUCTING THE REASON 
                   AND SEEKING TRUTH IN THE SCIENCES

                           by Rene Descartes



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 



PART I

Good sense is  of all things among men  the most equally distributed 
for every one 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 men  and
that the diversity of our opinions  consequently  does not arise from
some being endowed with a larger share of reason than others  but
solely from this  that we conduct our thoughts along different ways 
and do not fix our attention on the same objects   For to be possessed
of a vigorous mind is not enough  the prime requisite is rightly to
apply it   The greatest minds  as they are capable of the highest
excellences  are open likewise to the greatest aberrations  and those
who travel very slowly may yet make far greater progress  provided they
keep always to the straight road  than those who  while they run 
forsake it 

For myself  I have never fancied my mind to be in any respect more
perfect than those of the generality  on the contrary  I have often
wished that I were equal to some others in promptitude of thought  or
in clearness and distinctness of imagination  or in fullness and
readiness of memory   And besides these  I know of no other qualities
that contribute to the perfection of the mind  for as to the reason or
sense  inasmuch as it is that alone which constitutes us men  and
distinguishes us from the brutes  I am disposed to believe that it is
to be found complete in each individual  and on this point to adopt the
common opinion of philosophers  who say that the difference of greater
and less holds only among the accidents  and not among the forms or
natures of individuals of the same species 

I will not hesitate  however  to avow my belief that it has been my
singular good  fortune to have very early in life fallen in with
certain tracks which have conducted me to considerations and maxims  of
which I have formed a method that gives me the means  as I think  of
gradually augmenting my knowledge  and of raising it by little and
little to the highest point which the mediocrity of my talents and the
brief duration of my life will permit me to reach   For I have already
reaped from it such fruits that  although I have been accustomed to
think lowly enough of myself  and although when I look with the eye of
a philosopher at the varied courses and pursuits of mankind at large  I
find scarcely one which does not appear in vain and useless  I
nevertheless derive the highest satisfaction from the progress I
conceive myself to have already made in the search after truth  and
cannot help entertaining such expectations of the future as to believe
that if  among the occupations of men as men  there is any one really
excellent and important  it is that which I have chosen 

After all  it is possible I may be mistaken  and it is but a little
copper and glass  perhaps  that I take for gold and diamonds   I know
how very liable we are to delusion in what relates to ourselves  and
also how much the judgments of our friends are to be suspected when
given in our favor   But I shall endeavor in this discourse to describe
the paths I have followed  and to delineate my life as in a picture  in
order that each one may also be able to judge of them for himself  and
that in the general opinion entertained of them  as gathered from
current report  I myself may have a new help towards instruction to be
added to those I have been in the habit of employing 

My present design  then  is not to teach the method which each ought to
follow for the right conduct of his reason  but solely to describe the
way in which I have endeavored to conduct my own   They who set
themselves to give precepts must of course regard themselves as
possessed of greater skill than those to whom they prescribe  and if
they err in the slightest particular  they subject themselves to
censure   But as this tract is put forth merely as a history  or  if
you will  as a tale  in which  amid some examples worthy of imitation 
there will be found  perhaps  as many more which it were advisable not
to follow  I hope it will prove useful to some without being hurtful to
any  and that my openness will find some favor with all 

From my childhood  I have been familiar with letters  and as I was
given to believe that by their help a clear and certain knowledge of
all that is useful in life might be acquired  I was ardently desirous
of instruction   But as soon as I had finished the entire course of
study  at the close of which it is customary to be admitted into the
order of the learned  I completely changed my opinion   For I found
myself involved in so many doubts and errors  that I was convinced I
had advanced no farther in all my attempts at learning  than the
discovery at every turn of my own ignorance   And yet I was studying in
one of the most celebrated schools in Europe  in which I thought there
must be learned men   if such were anywhere to be found   I had been
taught all that others learned there  and not contented with the
sciences actually taught us  I had  in addition  read all the books
that had fallen into my hands  treating of such branches as are
esteemed the most curious and rare   I knew the judgment which others
had formed of me  and I did not find that I was considered inferior to
my fellows  although there were among them some who were already marked
out to fill the places of our instructors   And  in fine  our age
appeared to me as flourishing  and as fertile in powerful minds as any
preceding one   I was thus led to take the liberty of judging of all
other men by myself  and of concluding that there was no science in
existence that was of such a nature as I had previously been given to
believe 

I still continued  however  to hold in esteem the studies of the
schools   I was aware that the languages taught in them are necessary
to the understanding of the writings of the ancients  that the grace of
fable stirs the mind  that the memorable deeds of history elevate it 
and  if read with discretion  aid in forming the judgment  that the
perusal of all excellent books is   as it were  to interview with the
noblest men of past ages  who have written them  and even a studied
interview  in which are discovered to us only their choicest thoughts 
that eloquence has incomparable force and beauty  that poesy has its
ravishing graces and delights  that in the mathematics there are many
refined discoveries eminently suited to gratify the inquisitive  as
well as further all the arts an lessen the labour of man  that numerous
highly useful precepts and exhortations to virtue are contained in
treatises on morals  that theology points out the path to heaven  that
philosophy affords the means of discoursing with an appearance of truth
on all matters  and commands the admiration of the more simple  that
jurisprudence  medicine  and the other sciences  secure for their
cultivators honors and riches  and  in fine  that it is useful to
bestow some attention upon all  even upon those abounding the most in
superstition and error  that we may be in a position to determine their
real value  and guard against being deceived 

But I believed that I had already given sufficient time to languages 
and likewise to the reading of the writings of the ancients  to their
histories and fables    For to hold converse with those of other ages
and to travel  are almost the same thing   It is useful to know
something of the manners of different nations  that we may be enabled
to form a more correct judgment regarding our own  and be prevented
from thinking that everything contrary to our customs is ridiculous and
irrational  a conclusion usually come to by those whose experience has
been limited to their own country   On the other hand  when too much
time is occupied in traveling  we become strangers to our native
country  and the over curious in the customs of the past are generally
ignorant of those of the present   Besides  fictitious narratives lead
us to imagine the possibility of many events that are impossible  and
even the most faithful histories  if they do not wholly misrepresent
matters  or exaggerate their importance to render the account of them
more worthy of perusal  omit  at least  almost always the meanest and
least striking of the attendant circumstances  hence it happens that
the remainder does not represent the truth  and that such as regulate
their conduct by examples drawn from this source  are apt to fall into
the extravagances of the knight errants of romance  and to entertain
projects that exceed their powers 

I esteemed eloquence highly  and was in raptures with poesy  but I
thought that both were gifts of nature rather than fruits of study 
Those in whom the faculty of reason is predominant  and who most
skillfully dispose their thoughts with a view to render them clear and
intelligible  are always the best able to persuade others of the truth
of what they lay down  though they should speak only in the language of
Lower Brittany  and be wholly ignorant of the rules of rhetoric  and
those whose minds are stored with the most agreeable fancies  and who
can give expression to them with the greatest embellishment and
harmony  are still the best poets  though unacquainted with the art of
poetry 

I was especially delighted with the mathematics  on account of the
certitude and evidence of their reasonings   but I had not as yet a
precise knowledge of their true use  and thinking that they but
contributed to the advancement of the mechanical arts  I was astonished
that foundations  so strong and solid  should have had no loftier
superstructure reared on them   On the other hand  I compared the
disquisitions of the ancient moralists to very towering and magnificent
palaces with no better foundation than sand and mud   they laud the
virtues very highly  and exhibit them as estimable far above anything
on earth  but they give us no adequate criterion of virtue  and
frequently that which they designate with so fine a name is but apathy 
or pride  or despair  or parricide 

I revered our theology  and aspired as much as any one to reach heaven 
but being given assuredly to understand that the way is not less open
to the most ignorant than to the most learned  and that the revealed
truths which lead to heaven are above our comprehension  I did not
presume to subject them to the impotency of my reason  and I thought
that in order competently to undertake their examination  there was
need of some special help from heaven  and of being more than man 

Of philosophy I will say nothing  except that when I saw that it had
been cultivated for many ages by the most distinguished men  and that
yet there is not a single matter within its sphere which is not still
in dispute  and nothing  therefore  which is above doubt  I did not
presume to anticipate that my success would be greater in it than that
of others  and further  when I considered the number of conflicting
opinions touching a single matter that may be upheld by learned men 
while there can be but one true  I reckoned as well nigh false all that
was only probable 

As to the other sciences  inasmuch as these borrow their principles
from philosophy  I judged that no solid superstructures could be reared
on foundations so infirm  and neither the honor nor the gain held out
by them was sufficient to determine me to their cultivation   for I was
not  thank Heaven  in a condition which compelled me to make
merchandise of science for the bettering of my fortune  and though I
might not profess to scorn glory as a cynic  I yet made very slight
account of that honor which I hoped to acquire only through fictitious
titles   And  in fine  of false sciences I thought I knew the worth
sufficiently to escape being deceived by the professions of an
alchemist  the predictions of an astrologer  the impostures of a
magician  or by the artifices and boasting of any of those who profess
to know things of which they are ignorant 

For these reasons  as soon as my age permitted me to pass from under
the control of my instructors  I entirely abandoned the study of
letters  and resolved no longer to seek any other science than the
knowledge of myself  or of the great book of the world   I spent the
remainder of my youth in traveling  in visiting courts and armies  in
holding intercourse with men of different dispositions and ranks  in
collecting varied experience  in proving myself in the different
situations into which fortune threw me  and  above all  in making such
reflection on the matter of my experience as to secure my improvement 
For it occurred to me that I should find much more truth in the
reasonings of each individual with reference to the affairs in which he
is personally interested  and the issue of which must presently punish
him if he has judged amiss  than in those conducted by a man of letters
in his study  regarding speculative matters that are of no practical
moment  and followed by no consequences to himself  farther  perhaps 
than that they foster his vanity the better the more remote they are
from common sense  requiring  as they must in this case  the exercise
of greater ingenuity and art to render them probable   In addition  I
had always a most earnest desire to know how to distinguish the true
from the false  in order that I might be able clearly to discriminate
the right path in life  and proceed in it with confidence 

It is true that  while busied only in considering the manners of other
men  I found here  too  scarce any ground for settled conviction  and
remarked hardly less contradiction among them than in the opinions of
the philosophers   So that the greatest advantage I derived from the
study consisted in this  that  observing many things which  however
extravagant and ridiculous to our apprehension  are yet by common
consent received and approved by other great nations  I learned to
entertain too 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 which was accompanied with greater success than
it would have been had I never quitted my country or my books 



PART II

I was then in Germany  attracted thither by the wars in that country 
which have not yet been brought to a termination  and as I was
returning to the army from the coronation of the emperor  the setting
in of winter arrested me in a locality where  as I found no society to
interest me  and was besides fortunately undisturbed by any cares or
passions  I remained the whole day in seclusion  with full opportunity
to occupy my attention with my own thoughts   Of these one of the very
first that occurred to me was  that there is seldom so much perfection
in works composed of many separate parts  upon which different hands
had been employed  as in those completed by a single master    Thus it
is observable that the buildings which a single architect has planned
and executed  are generally more elegant and commodious than those
which several have attempted to improve  by making old walls serve for
purposes for which they were not originally built   Thus also  those
ancient cities which  from being at first only villages  have become 
in course of time  large towns  are usually but ill laid out compared
with the regularity constructed towns which a professional architect
has freely planned on an open plain  so that although the several
buildings of the former may often equal or surpass in beauty those of
the latter  yet when one observes their indiscriminate juxtaposition 
there a large one and here a small  and the consequent crookedness and
irregularity of the streets  one is disposed to allege that chance
rather than any human will guided by reason must have led to such an
arrangement   And if we consider that nevertheless there have been at
all times certain officers whose duty it was to see that private
buildings contributed to public ornament  the difficulty of reaching
high perfection with but the materials of others to operate on  will be
readily acknowledged   In the same way I fancied that those nations
which  starting from a semi barbarous state and advancing to
civilization by slow degrees  have had their laws successively
determined  and  as it were  forced upon them simply by experience of
the hurtfulness of particular crimes and disputes  would by this
process come to be possessed of less perfect institutions than those
which  from the commencement of their association as communities  have
followed the appointments of some wise legislator   It is thus quite
certain that the constitution of the true religion  the ordinances of
which are derived from God  must be incomparably superior to that of
every other   And  to speak of human affairs  I believe that the
pre eminence of Sparta was due not to the goodness of each of its laws
in particular  for many of these were very strange  and even opposed to
good morals  but to the circumstance that  originated by a single
individual  they all tended to a single end   In the same way I thought
that the sciences contained in books  such of them at least as are made
up of probable reasonings  without demonstrations   composed as they
are of the opinions of many different individuals massed together  are
farther removed from truth than the simple inferences which a man of
good sense using his natural and unprejudiced judgment draws respecting
the matters of his experience   And because we have all to pass through
a state of infancy to manhood  and have been of necessity  for a length
of time  governed by our desires and preceptors  whose dictates were
frequently conflicting  while neither perhaps always counseled us for
the best   I farther concluded that it is almost impossible that our
judgments can be so correct or solid as they would have been  had our
reason been mature from the moment of our birth  and had we always been
guided by it alone 

It is true  however  that it is not customary to pull down all the
houses of a town with the single design of rebuilding them differently 
and thereby rendering the streets more handsome  but it often happens
that a private individual takes down his own with the view of erecting
it anew  and that people are even sometimes constrained to this when
their houses are in danger of falling from age  or when the foundations
are insecure   With this before me by way of example  I was persuaded
that it would indeed be preposterous for a private individual to think
of reforming a state by fundamentally changing it throughout  and
overturning it in order to set it up amended  and the same I thought
was true of any similar project for reforming the body of the sciences 
or the order of teaching them established in the schools   but as for
the opinions which up to that time I had embraced  I thought that I
could not do better than resolve at once to sweep them wholly away 
that I might afterwards be in a position to admit either others more
correct  or even perhaps the same when they had undergone the scrutiny
of reason   I firmly believed that in this way I should much better
succeed in the conduct of my life  than if I built only upon old
foundations  and leaned upon principles which  in my youth  I had taken
upon trust   For although I recognized various difficulties in this
undertaking  these were not  however  without remedy  nor once to be
compared with such as attend the slightest reformation in public
affairs   Large bodies  if once overthrown  are with great difficulty
set up again  or even kept erect when once seriously shaken  and the
fall of such is always disastrous   Then if there are any imperfections
in the constitutions of states  and that many such exist the diversity
of constitutions is alone sufficient to assure us   custom has without
doubt materially smoothed their inconveniences  and has even managed to
steer altogether clear of  or insensibly corrected a number which
sagacity could not have provided against with equal effect  and  in
fine  the defects are almost always more tolerable than the change
necessary for their removal  in the same manner that highways which
wind among mountains  by being much frequented  become gradually so
smooth and commodious  that it is much better to follow them than to
seek a straighter path by climbing over the tops of rocks and
descending to the bottoms of precipices 

Hence it is that I cannot in any degree approve of those restless and
busy meddlers who  called neither by birth nor fortune to take part in
the management of public affairs  are yet always projecting reforms 
and if I thought that this tract contained aught which might justify
the suspicion that I was a victim of such folly  I would by no means
permit its publication   I have never contemplated anything higher than
the reformation of my own opinions  and basing them on a foundation
wholly my own   And although my own satisfaction with my work has led
me to present here a draft of it  I do not by any means therefore
recommend to every one else to make a similar attempt   Those whom God
has endowed with a larger measure of genius will entertain  perhaps 
designs still more exalted  but for the many I am much afraid lest even
the present undertaking be more than they can safely venture to
imitate   The single design to strip one s self of all past beliefs is
one that ought not to be taken by every one   The majority of men is
composed of two classes  for neither of which would this be at all a
befitting resolution   in the first place  of those who with more than
a due confidence in their own powers  are precipitate in their
judgments and want the patience requisite for orderly and circumspect
thinking  whence it happens  that if men of this class once take the
liberty to doubt of their accustomed opinions  and quit the beaten
highway  they will never be able to thread the byway that would lead
them by a shorter course  and will lose themselves and continue to
wander for life  in the second place  of those who  possessed of
sufficient sense or modesty to determine that there are others who
excel them in the power of discriminating between truth and error  and
by whom they may be instructed  ought rather to content themselves with
the opinions of such than trust for more correct to their own reason 

For my own part  I should doubtless have belonged to the latter class 
had I received instruction from but one master  or had I never known
the diversities of opinion that from time immemorial have prevailed
among men of the greatest learning   But I had become aware  even so
early as during my college life  that no opinion  however absurd and
incredible  can be imagined  which has not been maintained by some on
of the philosophers  and afterwards in the course of my travels I
remarked that all those whose opinions are decidedly repugnant to ours
are not in that account barbarians and savages  but on the contrary
that many of these nations make an equally good  if not better  use of
their reason than we do   I took into account also the very different
character which a person brought up from infancy in France or Germany
exhibits  from that which  with the same mind originally  this
individual would have possessed had he lived always among the Chinese
or with savages  and the circumstance that in dress itself the fashion
which pleased us ten years ago  and which may again  perhaps  be
received into favor before ten years have gone  appears to us at this
moment extravagant and ridiculous   I was thus led to infer that the
ground of our opinions is far more custom and example than any certain
knowledge   And  finally  although such be the ground of our opinions 
I remarked that a plurality of suffrages is no guarantee of truth where
it is at all of difficult discovery  as in such cases it is much more
likely that it will be found by one than by many   I could  however 
select from the crowd no one whose opinions seemed worthy of
preference  and thus I found myself constrained  as it were  to use my
own reason in the conduct of my life 

But like one walking alone and in the dark  I resolved to proceed so
slowly and with such circumspection  that if I did not advance far  I
would at least guard against falling   I did not even choose to dismiss
summarily any of the opinions that had crept into my belief without
having been introduced by reason  but first of all took sufficient time
carefully to satisfy myself of the general nature of the task I was
setting myself  and ascertain the true method by which to arrive at the
knowledge of whatever lay within the compass of my powers 

Among the branches of philosophy  I had  at an earlier period  given
some attention to logic  and among those of the mathematics to
geometrical analysis and algebra   three arts or sciences which ought 
as I conceived  to contribute something to my design   But  on
examination  I found that  as for logic  its syllogisms and the
majority of its other precepts are of avail  rather in the
communication of what we already know  or even as the art of Lully  in
speaking without judgment of things of which we are ignorant  than in
the investigation of the unknown  and although this science contains
indeed a number of correct and very excellent precepts  there are 
nevertheless  so many others  and these either injurious or
superfluous  mingled with the former  that it is almost quite as
difficult to effect a severance of the true from the false as it is to
extract a Diana or a Minerva from a rough block of marble   Then as to
the analysis of the ancients and the algebra of the moderns  besides
that they embrace only matters highly abstract  and  to appearance  of
no use  the former is so exclusively restricted to the consideration of
figures  that it can exercise the understanding only on condition of
greatly fatiguing the imagination  and  in the latter  there is so
complete a subjection to certain rules and formulas  that there results
an art full of confusion and obscurity calculated to embarrass  instead
of a science fitted to cultivate the mind   By these considerations I
was induced to seek some other method which would comprise the
advantages of the three and be exempt from their defects   And as a
multitude of laws often only hampers justice  so that a state is best
governed when  with few laws  these are rigidly administered  in like
manner  instead of the great number of precepts of which logic is
composed  I believed that the four following would prove perfectly
sufficient for me  provided I took the firm and unwavering resolution
never in a single instance to fail in observing them 

The first was never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly
know to be such  that is to say  carefully to avoid precipitancy and
prejudice  and to comprise nothing more in my judgement than what was
presented to my mind so clearly and distinctly as to exclude all ground
of doubt 

The second  to divide each of the difficulties under examination into
as many parts as possible  and as might be necessary for its adequate
solution 

The third  to conduct my thoughts in such order that  by commencing
with objects the simplest and easiest to know  I might ascend by little
and little  and  as it were  step by step  to the knowledge of the more
complex  assigning in thought a certain order even to those objects
which in their own nature do not stand in a relation of antecedence and
sequence 

And the last  in every case to make enumerations so complete  and
reviews so general  that I might be assured that nothing was omitted 

The long chains of simple and easy reasonings by means of which
geometers are accustomed to reach the conclusions of their most
difficult demonstrations  had led me to imagine that all things  to the
knowledge of which man is competent  are mutually connected in the same
way  and that there is nothing so far removed from us as to be beyond
our reach  or so hidden that we cannot discover it  provided only we
abstain from accepting the false for the true  and always preserve in
our thoughts the order necessary for the deduction of one truth from
another   And I had little difficulty in determining the objects with
which it was necessary to commence  for I was already persuaded that it
must be with the simplest and easiest to know  and  considering that of
all those who have hitherto sought truth in the sciences  the
mathematicians alone have been able to find any demonstrations  that
is  any certain and evident reasons  I did not doubt but that such must
have been the rule of their investigations   I resolved to commence 
therefore  with the examination of the simplest objects  not
anticipating  however  from this any other advantage than that to be
found in accustoming my mind to the love and nourishment of truth  and
to a distaste for all such reasonings as were unsound   But I had no
intention on that account of attempting to master all the particular
sciences commonly denominated mathematics   but observing that  however
different their objects  they all agree in considering only the various
relations or proportions subsisting among those objects  I thought it
best for my purpose to consider these proportions in the most general
form possible  without referring them to any objects in particular 
except such as would most facilitate the knowledge of them  and without
by any means restricting them to these  that afterwards I might thus be
the better able to apply them to every other class of objects to which
they are legitimately applicable   Perceiving further  that in order to
understand these relations I should sometimes have to consider them one
by one and sometimes only to bear them in mind  or embrace them in the
aggregate  I thought that  in order the better to consider them
individually  I should view them as subsisting between straight lines 
than which I could find no objects more simple  or capable of being
more distinctly represented to my imagination and senses  and on the
other hand  that in order to retain them in the memory or embrace an
aggregate of many  I should express them by certain characters the
briefest possible   In this way I believed that I could borrow all that
was best both in geometrical analysis and in algebra  and correct all
the defects of the one by help of the other 

And  in point of fact  the accurate observance of these few precepts
gave me  I take the liberty of saying  such ease in unraveling all the
questions embraced in these two sciences  that in the two or three
months I devoted to their examination  not only did I reach solutions
of questions I had formerly deemed exceedingly difficult but even as
regards questions of the solution of which I continued ignorant  I was
enabled  as it appeared to me  to determine the means whereby  and the
extent to which a solution was possible  results attributable to the
circumstance that I commenced with the simplest and most general
truths  and that thus each truth discovered was a rule available in the
discovery of subsequent ones Nor in this perhaps shall I appear too
vain  if it be considered that  as the truth on any particular point is
one whoever apprehends the truth  knows all that on that  point can be
known   The child  for example  who has been instructed in the elements
of arithmetic  and has made a particular addition  according to rule 
may be assured that he has found  with respect to the sum of the
numbers before him  and that in this instance is within the reach of
human genius   Now  in conclusion  the method which teaches adherence
to the true order  and an exact enumeration of all the conditions of
the thing sought includes all that gives certitude to the rules of
arithmetic 

But the chief ground of my satisfaction with thus method  was the
assurance I had of thereby exercising my reason in all matters  if not
with absolute perfection  at least with the greatest attainable by me 
besides  I was conscious that by its use my mind was becoming gradually
habituated to clearer and more distinct conceptions of its objects  and
I hoped also  from not having restricted this method to any particular
matter  to apply it to the difficulties of the other sciences  with not
less success than to those of algebra   I should not  however  on this
account have ventured at once on the examination of all the
difficulties of the sciences which presented themselves to me  for this
would have been contrary to the order prescribed in the method  but
observing that the knowledge of such is dependent on principles
borrowed from philosophy  in which I found nothing certain  I thought
it necessary first of all to endeavor to establish its principles   And
because I observed  besides  that an inquiry of this kind was of all
others of the greatest moment  and one in which precipitancy and
anticipation in judgment were most to be dreaded  I thought that I
ought not to approach it till I had reached a more mature age  being at
that time but twenty three   and had first of all employed much of my
time in preparation for the work  as well by eradicating from my mind
all the erroneous opinions I had up to that moment accepted  as by
amassing variety of experience to afford materials for my reasonings 
and by continually exercising myself in my chosen method with a view to
increased skill in its application 



PART III

And finally  as it is not enough  before commencing to rebuild the
house in which we live  that it be pulled down  and materials and
builders provided  or that we engage in the work ourselves  according
to a plan which we have beforehand carefully drawn out  but as it is
likewise necessary that we be furnished with some other house in which
we may live commodiously during the operations  so that I might not
remain irresolute in my actions  while my reason compelled me to
suspend my judgement  and that I might not be prevented from living
thenceforward in the greatest possible felicity  I formed a provisory
code of morals  composed of three or four maxims  with which I am
desirous to make you acquainted 

The first was to obey the laws and customs of my country  adhering
firmly to the faith in which  by the grace of God  I had been educated
from my childhood and regulating my conduct in every other matter
according to the most moderate opinions  and the farthest removed from
extremes  which should happen to be adopted in practice with general
consent of the most judicious of those among whom I might be living 
For as I had from that time begun to hold my own opinions for nought
because I wished to subject them all to examination  I was convinced
that I could not do better than follow in the meantime the opinions of
the most judicious  and although there are some perhaps among the
Persians and Chinese as judicious as among ourselves  expediency seemed
to dictate that I should regulate my practice conformably to the
opinions of those with whom I should have to live  and it appeared to
me that  in order to ascertain the real opinions of such  I ought
rather to take cognizance of what they practised than of what they
said  not only because  in the corruption of our manners  there are few
disposed to speak exactly as they believe  but also because very many
are not aware of what it is that they really believe  for  as the act
of mind by which a thing is believed is different from that by which we
know that we believe it  the one act is often found without the other 
Also  amid many opinions held in equal repute  I chose always the most
moderate  as much for the reason that these are always the most
convenient for practice  and probably the best  for all excess is
generally vicious   as that  in the event of my falling into error  I
might be at less distance from the truth than if  having chosen one of
the extremes  it should turn out to be the other which I ought to have
adopted   And I placed in the class of extremes especially all promises
by which somewhat of our freedom is abridged  not that I disapproved of
the laws which  to provide against the instability of men of feeble
resolution  when what is sought to be accomplished is some good  permit
engagements by vows and contracts binding the parties to persevere in
it  or even  for the security of commerce  sanction similar engagements
where the purpose sought to be realized is indifferent   but because I
did not find anything on earth which was wholly superior to change  and
because  for myself in particular  I hoped gradually to perfect my
judgments  and not to suffer them to deteriorate  I would have deemed
it a grave sin against good sense  if  for the reason that I approved
of something at a particular time  I therefore bound myself to hold it
for good at a subsequent time  when perhaps it had ceased to be so  or
I had ceased to esteem it such 

My second maxim was to be as firm and resolute in my actions as I was
able  and not to adhere less steadfastly to the most doubtful opinions 
when once adopted  than if they had been highly certain  imitating in
this the example of travelers who  when they have lost their way in a
forest  ought not to wander from side to side  far less remain in one
place  but proceed constantly towards the same side in as straight a
line as possible  without changing their direction for slight reasons 
although perhaps it might be chance alone which at first determined the
selection  for in this way  if they do not exactly reach the point they
desire  they will come at least in the end to some place that will
probably be preferable to the middle of a forest   In the same way 
since in action it frequently happens that no delay is permissible  it
is very certain that  when it is not in our power to determine what is
true  we ought to act according to what is most probable  and even
although we should not remark a greater probability in one opinion than
in another  we ought notwithstanding to choose one or the other  and
afterwards consider it  in so far as it relates to practice  as no
longer dubious  but manifestly true and certain   since the reason by
which our choice has been determined  is itself possessed of these
qualities   This principle was sufficient thenceforward to rid me of
all those repentings and pangs of remorse that usually disturb the
consciences of such feeble and uncertain minds as  destitute of any
clear and determinate principle of choice  allow themselves one day to
adopt a course of action as the best  which they abandon the next  as
the opposite 

My third maxim was to endeavor always to conquer myself rather than
fortune  and change my desires rather than the order of the world  and
in general  accustom  myself to the persuasion that  except our own
thoughts  there is nothing absolutely in our power  so that when we
have done our best in things external to us  all wherein we fail of
success is to be held  as regards us  absolutely impossible   and this
single principle seemed to me sufficient to prevent me from desiring
for the future anything which I could not obtain  and thus render me
contented  for since our will naturally seeks those objects alone which
the understanding represents as in some way possible of attainment  it
is plain  that if we consider all external goods as equally beyond our
power  we shall no more regret the absence of such goods as seem due to
our birth  when deprived of them without any fault of ours   than our
not possessing the kingdoms of China or Mexico  and thus making  so to
speak  a virtue of necessity  we shall no more desire health in
disease  or freedom in imprisonment  than we now do bodies
incorruptible as diamonds  or the wings of birds to fly with   But I
confess there is need of prolonged discipline and frequently repeated
meditation to accustom the mind to view all objects in this light  and
I believe that in this chiefly consisted the secret of the power of
such philosophers as in former times were enabled to rise superior to
the influence of fortune  and  amid suffering and poverty  enjoy a
happiness which their gods might have envied   For  occupied
incessantly with the consideration of the limits prescribed to their
power by nature  they became so entirely convinced that nothing was at
their disposal except their own thoughts  that this conviction was of
itself sufficient to prevent their entertaining any desire of other
objects  and over their thoughts they acquired a sway so absolute  that
they had some ground on this account for esteeming themselves more rich
and more powerful  more free and more happy  than other men who 
whatever be the favors heaped on them by nature and fortune  if
destitute of this philosophy  can never command the realization of all
their desires 

In fine  to conclude this code of morals  I thought of reviewing the
different occupations of men in this life  with the view of making
choice of the best   And  without wishing to offer any remarks on the
employments of others  I may state that it was my conviction that I
could not do better than continue in that in which I was engaged  viz  
in devoting my whole life to the culture of my reason  and in making
the greatest progress I was able in the knowledge of truth  on the
principles of the method which I had prescribed to myself   This
method  from the time I had begun to apply it  had been to me the
source of satisfaction so intense as to lead me to  believe that more
perfect or more innocent could not be enjoyed in this life  and as by
its means I daily discovered truths that appeared to me of some
importance  and of which other men were generally ignorant  the
gratification thence arising so occupied my mind that I was wholly
indifferent to every other object   Besides  the three preceding maxims
were founded singly on the design of continuing the work of
self instruction   For since God has endowed each of us with some light
of reason by which to distinguish truth from error  I could not have
believed that I ought for a single moment to rest satisfied with the
opinions of another  unless I had resolved to exercise my own judgment
in examining these whenever I should be duly qualified for the task 
Nor could I have proceeded on such opinions without scruple  had I
supposed that I should thereby forfeit any advantage for attaining
still more accurate  should such exist   And  in fine  I could not have
restrained my desires  nor remained satisfied had I not followed a path
in which I thought myself certain of attaining all the knowledge to the
acquisition of which I was competent  as well as the largest amount of
what is truly good which I could ever hope to secure Inasmuch as we
neither seek nor shun any object except in so far as our understanding
represents it as good or bad  all that is necessary to right action is
right judgment  and to the best action the most correct judgment  that
is  to the acquisition of all the virtues with all else that is truly
valuable and within our reach  and the assurance of such an acquisition
cannot fail to render us contented 

Having thus provided myself with these maxims  and having placed them
in reserve along with the truths of  faith  which have ever occupied
the first place in my  belief  I came to the conclusion that I might
with freedom set about ridding myself of what remained of my opinions 
And  inasmuch as I hoped to be better able successfully to accomplish
this work by holding intercourse with mankind  than by remaining longer
shut up in the retirement where these thoughts had occurred to me  I
betook me again to traveling before the winter was well ended   And 
during the nine subsequent years  I did nothing but roam from one place
to another  desirous of being a  spectator rather than an actor in the
plays exhibited on the theater of the world  and  as I made it my
business in each matter to reflect particularly upon what might fairly
be doubted and prove a source of error  I gradually rooted out from my
mind all the errors which had hitherto crept into it   Not that in this
I imitated the sceptics who doubt only that they may doubt  and seek
nothing beyond uncertainty itself  for  on the contrary  my design  was
singly to find ground of assurance  and cast aside the  loose earth and
sand  that I might reach the rock or the clay   In this  as appears to
me  I was successful enough  for  since I endeavored to discover the
falsehood or incertitude of the propositions I examined  not by feeble
conjectures  but by clear and certain reasonings  I met with nothing so
doubtful as not to yield some conclusion of adequate certainty 
although this were merely the inference  that the matter in question
contained nothing certain   And  just as in pulling down an old house 
we usually reserve the ruins to contribute towards the erection  so  in
destroying such of my opinions as I judged to be Ill founded  I made a
variety of observations and acquired an amount of experience of which I
availed myself in the establishment of more certain   And further  I
continued to exercise myself in the method I had prescribed  for 
besides taking care in general to conduct all my thoughts according to
its rules  I reserved some hours from time to time which I expressly
devoted to the employment of the method in the solution of mathematical
difficulties  or even in the solution likewise of some questions
belonging to other sciences  but which  by my having detached them from
such principles of these sciences as were of inadequate certainty  were
rendered almost mathematical   the truth of this will be manifest from
the numerous examples contained in this volume   And thus  without in
appearance living otherwise than those who  with no other occupation
than that of spending their lives agreeably and innocently  study to
sever pleasure from vice  and who  that they may enjoy their leisure
without ennui  have recourse to such pursuits as are honorable  I was
nevertheless prosecuting my design  and making greater progress in the
knowledge of truth  than I might  perhaps  have made had I been engaged
in the perusal of books merely  or in holding converse with men of
letters 

These nine years passed away  however  before I had come to any
determinate judgment respecting the difficulties which form matter of
dispute among the learned  or had commenced to seek the principles of
any philosophy more certain than the vulgar   And the examples of many
men of the highest genius  who had  in former times  engaged in this
inquiry  but  as appeared to me  without success  led me to imagine it
to be a work of so much difficulty  that I would not perhaps have
ventured on it so soon had I not heard it currently  rumored that I had
already completed the inquiry   I know not what were the grounds of
this opinion  and  if my conversation contributed in any measure to its
rise  this must have happened rather from my having confessed my
Ignorance with greater freedom than those are accustomed to do who have
studied a little  and expounded perhaps  the reasons that led me to
doubt of many of those things that by others are esteemed certain  than
from my having boasted of any system of philosophy   But  as I am of a
disposition that makes me unwilling to be esteemed different from what
I really am  I thought it necessary to endeavor by all means to render
myself worthy of the reputation accorded to me  and it is now exactly
eight years since this desire constrained me to remove from all those
places where interruption from any of my acquaintances was possible 
and betake myself to this country  in which the long duration of the
war has led to the establishment of such discipline  that the armies
maintained seem to be of use only in enabling the inhabitants to enjoy
more securely the blessings of peace and where  in the midst of a great
crowd actively engaged in business  and more careful of their own
affairs than curious about those of others  I have been enabled to live
without being deprived of any of the conveniences to be had in the most
populous cities  and yet as solitary and as retired as in the midst of
the most remote deserts 



PART IV

I am in doubt as to the propriety of making my first meditations in the
place above mentioned matter of discourse  for these are so
metaphysical  and so uncommon  as not  perhaps  to be acceptable to
every one   And yet  that it may be determined whether the foundations
that I have laid are sufficiently secure  I find myself in a measure
constrained to advert to them   I had long before remarked that  in
relation to practice  it is sometimes necessary to adopt  as if above
doubt  opinions which we discern to be highly uncertain  as has been
already said  but as I then desired to give my attention solely to the
search after truth  I thought that a procedure exactly the opposite was
called for  and that I ought to reject as absolutely false all opinions
in regard to which I could suppose the least ground for doubt  in order
to ascertain whether after that there remained aught in my belief that
was wholly indubitable   Accordingly  seeing that our senses sometimes
deceive us  I was willing to suppose that there existed nothing really
such as they presented to us  and because some men err in reasoning 
and fall into paralogisms  even on the simplest matters of geometry  I 
convinced that I was as open to error as any other  rejected as false
all the reasonings I had hitherto taken for demonstrations  and
finally  when I considered that the very same thoughts  presentations 
which we experience when awake may also be experienced when we are
asleep  while there is at that time not one of them true  I supposed
that all the objects  presentations  that had ever entered into my mind
when awake  had in them no more truth than the illusions of my dreams 
But immediately upon this I observed that  whilst I thus wished to
think that all was false  it was absolutely necessary that I  who thus
thought  should be somewhat  and as I observed that this truth  I
think  therefore I am  COGITO ERGO SUM   was so certain and of such
evidence that no ground of doubt  however extravagant  could be alleged
by the sceptics capable of shaking it  I concluded that I might 
without scruple  accept it as the first principle of the philosophy of
which I was in search 

In the next place  I attentively examined what I was and as I observed
that I could suppose that I had no body  and that there was no world
nor any place in which I might be  but that I could not therefore
suppose that I was not  and that  on the contrary  from the very
circumstance that I thought to doubt of the truth of other things  it
most clearly and certainly followed that I was  while  on the other
hand  if I had only ceased to think  although all the other objects
which I had ever imagined had been in reality existent  I would have
had no reason to believe that I existed  I thence concluded that I was
a substance whose whole essence or nature consists only in thinking 
and which  that it may exist  has need of no place  nor is dependent on
any material thing  so that  I   that is to say  the mind by which I am
what I am  is wholly distinct from the body  and is  even more easily
known than the latter  and is such  that although the latter were not 
it would still continue to be all that it is 

After this I inquired in general into what is essential I to the truth
and certainty of a proposition  for since I had discovered one which I
knew to be true  I thought that I must likewise be able to discover the
ground of this certitude   And as I observed that in the words I think 
therefore I am  there is nothing at all which gives me assurance of
their truth beyond this  that I see very clearly that in order to think
it is necessary to exist  I concluded that I might take  as a general
rule  the principle  that all the things which we very clearly and
distinctly conceive are true  only observing  however  that there is
some difficulty in rightly determining the objects which we distinctly
conceive 

In the next place  from reflecting on the circumstance that I doubted 
and that consequently my being was not wholly perfect  for I clearly
saw that it was a greater perfection to know than to doubt   I was led
to inquire whence I had learned to think of something more perfect than
myself  and I clearly recognized that I must hold this notion from some
nature which in reality was more perfect   As for the thoughts of many
other objects external to me  as of the sky  the earth  light  heat 
and a thousand more  I was less at a loss to know whence these came 
for since I remarked in them nothing which seemed to render them
superior to myself  I could believe that  if these were true  they were
dependencies on my own nature  in so far as it possessed a certain
perfection  and  if they were false  that I held them from nothing 
that is to say  that they were in me because of a certain imperfection
of my nature   But this could not be the case with the idea of a nature
more perfect than myself  for to receive it from nothing was a thing
manifestly impossible  and  because it is not less repugnant that the
more perfect should be an effect of  and dependence on the less
perfect  than that something should proceed from nothing  it was
equally impossible that I could hold it from myself  accordingly  it
but remained that it had been placed in me by a nature which was in
reality more perfect than mine  and which even possessed within itself
all the perfections of which I could form any idea  that is to say  in
a single word  which was God   And to this I added that  since I knew
some perfections which I did not possess  I was not the only being in
existence  I will here  with your permission  freely use the terms of
the schools   but  on the contrary  that there was of necessity some
other more perfect Being upon whom I was dependent  and from whom I had
received all that I possessed  for if I had existed alone  and
independently of every other being  so as to have had from myself all
the perfection  however little  which I actually possessed  I should
have been able  for the same reason  to have had from myself the whole
remainder of perfection  of the want of which I was conscious  and thus
could of myself have become infinite  eternal  immutable  omniscient 
all powerful  and  in fine  have possessed all the perfections which I
could recognize in God   For in order to know the nature of God  whose
existence has been established by the preceding reasonings   as far as
my own nature permitted  I had only to consider in reference to all the
properties of which I found in my  mind some idea  whether their
possession was a mark of perfection  and I was assured that no one
which indicated any imperfection was in him  and that none of the rest
was awanting   Thus I perceived that doubt  inconstancy   sadness  and
such like  could not be found in God  since I myself would have been
happy to be free from them   Besides  I had ideas of many sensible and
corporeal things  for although I might suppose that I was dreaming  and
that all which I saw or imagined was false  I could not  nevertheless 
deny that the ideas were in reality in my thoughts   But  because I had
already very clearly recognized in myself that the intelligent nature
is distinct from the corporeal  and as I observed that all composition
is an evidence of dependency  and that a state of dependency is
manifestly a state of imperfection  I therefore determined that it
could not be a perfection in God to be compounded of these two natures
and that consequently he was not so compounded  but that if there were
any bodies in the world  or even any intelligences  or other natures
that were not wholly perfect  their existence depended on his power in
such a way that they could not subsist without him for a single moment 

I was disposed straightway to search for other truths and when I had
represented to myself the object of the geometers  which I conceived to
be a continuous body or a space indefinitely extended in length 
breadth  and height or depth  divisible into divers parts which admit
of different figures and sizes  and of being moved or transposed in all
manner of ways  for all this the geometers suppose to be in the object
they contemplate   I went over some of their simplest demonstrations 
And  in the first place  I observed  that the great certitude which by
common consent is accorded to these demonstrations  is founded solely
upon this  that they are clearly conceived in accordance with the rules
I have already laid down In the next place  I perceived that there was
nothing at all in these demonstrations which could assure me of the
existence of their object  thus  for example  supposing a triangle to
be given  I distinctly perceived that its three angles were necessarily
equal to two right angles  but I did not on that account perceive
anything which could assure me that any triangle existed   while  on
the contrary  recurring to the examination of the idea of a Perfect
Being  I found that the existence of the Being was comprised in the
idea in the same way that the equality of its three angles to two right
angles is comprised in the idea of a triangle  or as in the idea of a
sphere  the equidistance of all points on its surface from the center 
or even still more clearly  and that consequently it is at least as
certain that God  who is this Perfect Being  is  or exists  as any
demonstration of geometry can be 

But the reason which leads many to persuade them selves that there is a
difficulty in knowing this truth  and even also in knowing what their
mind really is  is that they never raise their thoughts above sensible
objects  and are so accustomed to consider nothing except by way of
imagination  which is a mode of thinking limited to material objects 
that all that is not imaginable seems to them not intelligible   The
truth of this is sufficiently manifest from the single circumstance 
that the philosophers of the schools accept as a maxim that there is
nothing in the understanding which was not previously in the senses  in
which however it is certain that the ideas of God and of the soul have
never been  and it appears to me that they who make use of their
imagination to comprehend these ideas do exactly the some thing as if 
in order to hear sounds or smell odors  they strove to avail themselves
of their eyes  unless indeed that there is this difference  that the
sense of sight does not afford us an inferior assurance to those of
smell or hearing  in place of which  neither our imagination nor our
senses can give us assurance of anything unless our understanding
intervene 

Finally  if there be still persons who are not sufficiently persuaded
of the existence of God and of the soul  by the reasons I have adduced 
I am desirous that they should know that all the other propositions  of
the truth of which they deem themselves perhaps more assured  as that
we have a body  and that there exist stars and an earth  and such like 
are less certain  for  although we have a moral assurance of these
things  which is so strong that there is an appearance of extravagance
in doubting of their existence  yet at the same time no one  unless his
intellect is impaired  can deny  when the question relates to a
metaphysical certitude  that there is sufficient reason to exclude
entire assurance  in the observation that when asleep we can in the
same way imagine ourselves possessed of another body and that we see
other stars and another earth  when there is nothing of the kind   For
how do we know that the thoughts which occur in dreaming are false
rather than those other which we experience when awake  since the
former are often not less vivid and distinct than the latter   And
though men of the highest genius study this question as long as they
please  I do not believe that they will be able to give any reason
which can be sufficient to remove this doubt  unless they presuppose
the existence of God   For  in the first place even the principle which
I have already taken as a rule  viz   that all the things which we
clearly and distinctly conceive are true  is certain only because God
is or exists and because he is a Perfect Being  and because all that we
possess is derived from him   whence it follows that our ideas or
notions  which to the extent of their clearness and distinctness are
real  and proceed from God  must to that extent be true   Accordingly 
whereas we not infrequently have ideas or notions in which some falsity
is contained  this can only be the case with such as are to some extent
confused and obscure  and in this proceed from nothing  participate of
negation   that is  exist in us thus confused because we are not wholly
perfect   And it is evident that it is not less repugnant that falsity
or imperfection  in so far as it is imperfection  should proceed from
God  than that truth or perfection should proceed from nothing   But if
we did not know that all which we possess of real and true proceeds
from a Perfect and Infinite Being  however clear and distinct our ideas
might be  we should have no ground on that account for the assurance
that they possessed the perfection of being true 

But after the knowledge of God and of the soul has rendered us certain
of this rule  we can easily understand that the truth of the thoughts
we experience when awake  ought not in the slightest degree to be
called in question on account of the illusions of our dreams   For if
it happened that an individual  even when asleep  had some very
distinct idea  as  for example  if a geometer should discover some new
demonstration  the circumstance of his being asleep would not militate
against its truth  and as for the most ordinary error of our dreams 
which consists in their representing to us various objects in the same
way as our external senses  this is not prejudicial  since it leads us
very properly to suspect the truth of the ideas of sense  for we are
not infrequently deceived in the same manner when awake  as when
persons in the jaundice see all objects yellow  or when the stars or
bodies at a great distance appear to us much smaller than they are 
For  in fine  whether awake or asleep  we ought never to allow
ourselves to be persuaded of the truth of anything unless on the
evidence of our reason   And it must be noted that I say of our reason 
and not of our imagination or of our senses   thus  for example 
although we very clearly see the sun  we ought not therefore to
determine that it is only of the size which our sense of sight
presents  and we may very distinctly imagine the head of a lion joined
to the body of a goat  without being therefore shut up to the
conclusion that a chimaera exists  for it is not a dictate of reason
that what we thus see or imagine is in reality existent  but it plainly
tells us that all our ideas or notions contain in them some truth  for
otherwise it could not be that God  who is wholly perfect and
veracious  should have placed them in us   And because our reasonings
are never so clear or so complete during sleep as when we are awake 
although sometimes the acts of our imagination are then as lively and
distinct  if not more so than in our waking moments  reason further
dictates that  since all our thoughts cannot be true because of our
partial imperfection  those possessing truth must infallibly be found
in the experience of our waking moments rather than in that of our
dreams 



PART V

I would here willingly have proceeded to exhibit the whole chain of
truths which I deduced from these primary but as with a view to this it
would have been necessary now to treat of many questions in dispute
among the earned  with whom I do not wish to be embroiled  I believe
that it will be better for me to refrain from this exposition  and only
mention in general what these truths are  that the more judicious may
be able to determine whether a more special account of them would
conduce to the public advantage   I have ever remained firm in my
original resolution to suppose no other principle than that of which I
have recently availed myself in demonstrating the existence of God and
of the soul  and to accept as true nothing that did not appear to me
more clear and certain than the demonstrations of the geometers had
formerly appeared  and yet I venture to state that not only have I
found means to satisfy myself in a short time on all the principal
difficulties which are usually treated of in philosophy  but I have
also observed certain laws established in nature by God in such a
manner  and of which he has impressed on our minds such notions  that
after we have reflected sufficiently upon these  we cannot doubt that
they are accurately observed in all that exists or takes place in the
world and farther  by considering the concatenation of these laws  it
appears to me that I have discovered many truths more useful and more
important than all I had before learned  or even had expected to learn 

But because I have essayed to expound the chief of these discoveries in
a treatise which certain considerations prevent me from publishing  I
cannot make the results known more conveniently than by here giving a
summary of the contents of this treatise   It was my design to comprise
in it all that  before I set myself to write it  I thought I knew of
the nature of material objects   But like the painters who  finding
themselves unable to represent equally well on a plain surface all the
different faces of a solid body  select one of the chief  on which
alone they make the light fall  and throwing the rest into the shade 
allow them to appear only in so far as they can be seen while looking
at the principal one  so  fearing lest I should not be able to compense
in my discourse all that was in my mind  I resolved to expound singly 
though at considerable length  my opinions regarding light  then to
take the opportunity of adding something on the sun and the fixed
stars  since light almost wholly proceeds from them  on the heavens
since they transmit it  on the planets  comets  and earth  since they
reflect it  and particularly on all the bodies that are upon the earth 
since they are either colored  or transparent  or luminous  and finally
on man  since he is the spectator of these objects   Further  to enable
me to cast this variety of subjects somewhat into the shade  and to
express my judgment regarding them with greater freedom  without being
necessitated to adopt or refute the opinions of the learned  I resolved
to leave all the people here to their disputes  and to speak only of
what would happen in a new world  if God were now to create somewhere
in the imaginary spaces matter sufficient to compose one  and were to
agitate variously and confusedly the different parts of this matter  so
that there resulted a chaos as disordered as the poets ever feigned 
and after that did nothing more than lend his ordinary concurrence to
nature  and allow her to act in accordance with the laws which he had
established   On this supposition  I  in the first place  described
this matter  and essayed to represent it in such a manner that to my
mind there can be nothing clearer and more intelligible  except what
has been recently said regarding God and the soul  for I even expressly
supposed that it possessed none of those forms or qualities which are
so debated in the schools  nor in general anything the knowledge of
which is not so natural to our minds that no one can so much as imagine
himself ignorant of it   Besides  I have pointed out what are the laws
of nature  and  with no other principle upon which to found my
reasonings except the infinite perfection of God  I endeavored to
demonstrate all those about which there could be any room for doubt 
and to prove that they are such  that even if God had created more
worlds  there could have been none in which these laws were not
observed   Thereafter  I showed how the greatest part of the matter of
this chaos must  in accordance with these laws  dispose and arrange
itself in such a way as to present the appearance of heavens  how in
the meantime some of its parts must compose an earth and some planets
and comets  and others a sun and fixed stars   And  making a digression
at this stage on the subject of light  I expounded at considerable
length what the nature of that light must be which is found in the sun
and the stars  and how thence in an instant of time it traverses the
immense spaces of the heavens  and how from the planets and comets it
is reflected towards the earth   To this I likewise added much
respecting the substance  the situation  the motions  and all the
different qualities of these heavens and stars  so that I thought I had
said enough respecting them to show that there is nothing observable in
the heavens or stars of our system that must not  or at least may not
appear precisely alike in those of the system which I described   I
came next to speak of the earth in particular  and to show how  even
though I had expressly supposed that God had given no weight to the
matter of which it is composed  this should not prevent all its parts
from tending exactly to its center  how with water and air on its
surface  the disposition of the heavens and heavenly bodies  more
especially of the moon  must cause a flow and ebb  like in all its
circumstances to that observed in our seas  as also a certain current
both of water and air from east to west  such as is likewise observed
between the tropics  how the mountains  seas  fountains  and rivers
might naturally be formed in it  and the metals produced in the mines 
and the plants grow in the fields and in general  how all the bodies
which are commonly denominated mixed or composite might be generated
and  among other things in the discoveries alluded to inasmuch as
besides the stars  I knew nothing except fire which produces light  I
spared no pains to set forth all that pertains to its nature   the
manner of its production and support  and to explain how heat is
sometimes found without light  and light without heat  to show how it
can induce various colors upon different bodies and other diverse
qualities  how it reduces some to a liquid state and hardens others 
how it can consume almost all bodies  or convert them into ashes and
smoke  and finally  how from these ashes  by the mere intensity of its
action  it forms glass   for as this transmutation of ashes into glass
appeared to me as wonderful as any other in nature  I took a special
pleasure in describing it   I was not  however  disposed  from these
circumstances  to conclude that this world had been created in the
manner I described  for it is much more likely that God made it at the
first such as it was to be   But this is certain  and an opinion
commonly received among theologians  that the action by which he now
sustains it is the same with that by which he originally created it  so
that even although he had from the beginning given it no other form
than that of chaos  provided only he had established certain laws of
nature  and had lent it his concurrence to enable it to act as it is
wont to do  it may be believed  without discredit to the miracle of
creation  that  in this way alone  things purely material might  in
course of time  have become such as we observe them at present  and
their nature is much more easily conceived when they are beheld coming
in this manner gradually into existence  than when they are only
considered as produced at once in a finished and perfect state 

From the description of inanimate bodies and plants  I passed to
animals  and particularly to man   But since I had not as yet
sufficient knowledge to enable me to treat of these in the same manner
as of the rest  that is to say  by deducing effects from their causes 
and by showing from what elements and in what manner nature must
produce them  I remained satisfied with the supposition that God formed
the body of man wholly like to one of ours  as well in the external
shape of the members as in the internal conformation of the organs  of
the same matter with that I had described  and at first placed in it no
rational soul  nor any other principle  in room of the vegetative or
sensitive soul  beyond kindling in the heart one of those fires without
light  such as I had already described  and which I thought was not
different from the heat in hay that has been heaped together before it
is dry  or that which causes fermentation in new wines before they are
run clear of the fruit   For  when I examined the kind of functions
which might  as consequences of this supposition  exist in this body  I
found precisely all those which may exist in us independently of all
power of thinking  and consequently without being in any measure owing
to the soul  in other words  to that part of us which is distinct from
the body  and of which it has been said above that the nature
distinctively consists in thinking  functions in which the animals void
of reason may be said wholly to resemble us  but among which I could
not discover any of those that  as dependent on thought alone  belong
to us as men  while  on the other hand  I did afterwards discover these
as soon as I supposed God to have created a rational soul  and to have
annexed it to this body in a particular manner which I described 

But  in order to show how I there handled this matter  I mean here to
give the explication of the motion of the heart and arteries  which  as
the first and most general motion observed in animals  will afford the
means of readily determining what should be thought of all the rest 
And that there may be less difficulty in understanding what I am about
to say on this subject  I advise those who are not versed in anatomy 
before they commence the perusal of these observations  to take the
trouble of getting dissected in their presence the heart of some large
animal possessed of lungs  for this is throughout sufficiently like the
human   and to have shown to them its two ventricles or cavities   in
the first place  that in the right side  with which correspond two very
ample tubes  viz   the hollow vein  vena cava   which is the principal
receptacle of the blood  and the trunk of the tree  as it were  of
which all the other veins in the body are branches  and the arterial
vein  vena arteriosa   inappropriately so denominated  since it is in
truth only an artery  which  taking its rise in the heart  is divided 
after passing out from it  into many branches which presently disperse
themselves all over the lungs  in the second place  the cavity in the
left side  with which correspond in the same manner two canals in size
equal to or larger than the preceding  viz   the venous artery  arteria
venosa   likewise inappropriately thus designated  because it is simply
a vein which comes from the lungs  where it is divided into many
branches  interlaced with those of the arterial vein  and those of the
tube called the windpipe  through which the air we breathe enters  and
the great artery which  issuing from the heart  sends its branches all
over the body   I should wish also that such persons were carefully
shown the eleven pellicles which  like so many small valves  open and
shut the four orifices that are in these two cavities  viz   three at
the entrance of the hollow veins where they are disposed in such a
manner as by no means to prevent the blood which it contains from
flowing into the right ventricle of the heart  and yet exactly to
prevent its flowing out  three at the entrance to the arterial vein 
which  arranged in a manner exactly the opposite of the former  readily
permit the blood contained in this cavity to pass into the lungs  but
hinder that contained in the lungs from returning to this cavity  and 
in like manner  two others at the mouth of the venous artery  which
allow the blood from the lungs to flow into the left cavity of the
heart  but preclude its return  and three at the mouth of the great
artery  which suffer the blood to flow from the heart  but prevent its
reflux   Nor do we need to seek any other reason for the number of
these pellicles beyond this that the orifice of the venous artery being
of an oval shape from the nature of its situation  can be adequately
closed with two  whereas the others being round are more conveniently
closed with three   Besides  I wish such persons to observe that the
grand artery and the arterial vein are of much harder and firmer
texture than the venous artery and the hollow vein  and that the two
last expand before entering the heart  and there form  as it were  two
pouches denominated the auricles of the heart  which are composed of a
substance similar to that of the heart itself  and that there is always
more warmth in the heart than in any other part of the body  and
finally  that this heat is capable of causing any drop of blood that
passes into the cavities rapidly to expand and dilate  just as all
liquors do when allowed to fall drop by drop into a highly heated
vessel 

For  after these things  it is not necessary for me to say anything
more with a view to explain the motion of the heart  except that when
its cavities are not full of blood  into these the blood of necessity
flows   from the hollow vein into the right  and from the venous artery
into the left  because these two vessels are always full of blood  and
their orifices  which are turned towards the heart  cannot then be
closed   But as soon as two drops of blood have thus passed  one into
each of the cavities  these drops which cannot but be very large 
because the orifices through which they pass are wide  and the vessels
from which they come full of blood  are immediately rarefied  and
dilated by the heat they meet with   In this way they cause the whole
heart to expand  and at the same time press home and shut the five
small valves that are at the entrances of the two vessels from which
they flow  and thus prevent any more blood from coming down into the
heart  and becoming more and more rarefied  they push open the six
small valves that are in the orifices of the other two vessels  through
which they pass out  causing in this way all the branches of the
arterial vein and of the grand artery to expand almost simultaneously
with the heart which immediately thereafter begins to contract  as do
also the arteries  because the blood that has entered them has cooled 
and the six small valves close  and the five of the hollow vein and of
the venous artery open anew and allow a passage to other two drops of
blood  which cause the heart and the arteries again to expand as
before   And  because the blood which thus enters into the heart passes
through these two pouches called auricles  it thence happens that their
motion is the contrary of that of the heart  and that when it expands
they contract   But lest those who are ignorant of the force of
mathematical demonstrations and who are not accustomed to distinguish
true reasons from mere verisimilitudes  should venture  without
examination  to deny what has been said  I wish it to be considered
that the motion which I have now explained follows as necessarily from
the very arrangement of the parts  which may be observed in the heart
by the eye alone  and from the heat which may be felt with the fingers 
and from the nature of the blood as learned from experience  as does
the motion of a clock from the power  the situation  and shape of its
counterweights and wheels 

But if it be asked how it happens that the blood in the veins  flowing
in this way continually into the heart  is not exhausted  and why the
arteries do not become too full  since all the blood which passes
through the heart flows into them  I need only mention in reply what
has been written by a physician of England  who has the honor of having
broken the ice on this subject  and of having been the first to teach
that there are many small passages at the extremities of the arteries 
through which the blood received by them from the heart passes into the
small branches of the veins  whence it again returns to the heart  so
that its course amounts precisely to a perpetual circulation   Of this
we have abundant proof in the ordinary experience of surgeons  who  by
binding the arm with a tie of moderate straitness above the part where
they open the vein  cause the blood to flow more copiously than it
would have done without any ligature  whereas quite the contrary would
happen were they to bind it below  that is  between the hand and the
opening  or were to make the ligature above the opening very tight 
For it is manifest that the tie  moderately straightened  while
adequate to hinder the blood already in the arm from returning towards
the heart by the veins  cannot on that account prevent new blood from
coming forward through the arteries  because these are situated below
the veins  and their coverings  from their greater consistency  are
more difficult to compress  and also that the blood which comes from
the heart tends to pass through them to the hand with greater force
than it does to return from the hand to the heart through the veins 
And since the latter current escapes from the arm by the opening made
in one of the veins  there must of necessity be certain passages below
the ligature  that is  towards the extremities of the arm through which
it can come thither from the arteries   This physician likewise
abundantly establishes what he has advanced respecting the motion of
the blood  from the existence of certain pellicles  so disposed in
various places along the course of the veins  in the manner of small
valves  as not to permit the blood to pass from the middle of the body
towards the extremities  but only to return from the extremities to the
heart  and farther  from experience which shows that all the blood
which is in the body may flow out of it in a very short time through a
single artery that has been cut  even although this had been closely
tied in the immediate neighborhood of the heart and cut between the
heart and the ligature  so as to prevent the supposition that the blood
flowing out of it could come from any other quarter than the heart 

But there are many other circumstances which evince that what I have
alleged is the true cause of the motion of the blood   thus  in the
first place  the difference that  is observed between the blood which
flows from the veins  and that from the arteries  can only arise from
this  that being rarefied  and  as it were  distilled by passing
through the heart  it is thinner  and more vivid  and warmer
immediately after leaving the heart  in other words  when in the
arteries  than it was a short time before passing into either  in other
words  when it was in the veins  and if attention be given  it will be
found that this difference is very marked only in the neighborhood of
the heart  and is not so evident in parts more remote from it   In the
next place  the consistency of the coats of which the arterial vein and
the great artery are  composed  sufficiently shows that the blood is
impelled  against them with more force than against the veins   And why
should the left cavity of the heart and the  great artery be wider and
larger than the right cavity and the arterial vein  were it not that
the blood of the  venous artery  having only been in the lungs after it
has passed through the heart  is thinner  and rarefies more readily 
and in a higher degree  than the blood which proceeds immediately from
the hollow vein   And what can physicians conjecture from feeling the
pulse unless they know that according as the blood changes its nature
it can be rarefied by the warmth of the heart  in a higher or lower
degree  and more or less quickly than before   And if it be inquired
how this heat is communicated to the other members  must it not be
admitted that this is effected by means of the blood  which  passing
through the heart  is there heated anew  and thence diffused over all
the body   Whence it happens  that if the blood be withdrawn from any
part  the heat is likewise withdrawn by the same means  and although
the heart were as hot as glowing iron  it would not be capable of
warming the feet and hands as at present  unless it continually sent
thither new blood   We likewise perceive from this  that the true use
of respiration is to bring sufficient fresh air into the lungs  to
cause the blood which flows into them from the right ventricle of the
heart  where it has been rarefied and  as it were  changed into vapors 
to become thick  and to convert it anew into blood  before it flows
into the left cavity  without which process it would be unfit for the
nourishment of the fire that is there   This receives confirmation from
the circumstance  that it is observed of animals destitute of lungs
that they have also but one cavity in the heart  and that in children
who cannot use them while in the womb  there is a hole through which
the blood flows from the hollow vein into the left cavity of the heart 
and a tube through which it passes from the arterial vein into the
grand artery without passing through the lung   In the next place  how
could digestion be carried on in the stomach unless the heart
communicated heat to it through the arteries  and along with this
certain of the more fluid parts of the blood  which assist in the
dissolution of the food that has been taken in   Is not also the
operation which converts the juice of food into blood easily
comprehended  when it is considered that it is distilled by passing and
repassing through the heart perhaps more than one or two hundred times
in a day   And what more need be adduced to explain nutrition  and the
production of the different humors of the body  beyond saying  that the
force with which the blood  in being rarefied  passes from the heart
towards the extremities of the arteries  causes certain of its parts to
remain in the members at which they arrive  and there occupy the place
of some others expelled by them  and that according to the situation 
shape  or smallness of the pores with which they meet  some rather
than others flow into certain parts  in the same way that some sieves
are observed to act  which  by being variously perforated  serve to
separate different species of grain   And  in the last place  what
above all is here worthy of observation  is the generation of the
animal spirits  which are like a very subtle wind  or rather a very
pure and vivid flame which  continually ascending in great abundance
from the heart to the brain  thence penetrates through the nerves into
the muscles  and gives motion to all the members  so that to account
for other parts of the blood which  as most agitated and penetrating 
are the fittest to compose these spirits  proceeding towards the brain 
it is not necessary to suppose any other cause  than simply  that the
arteries which carry them thither proceed from the heart in the most
direct lines  and that  according to the rules of mechanics which are
the same with those of nature  when many objects tend at once to the
same point where there is not sufficient room for all  as is the case
with the parts of the blood which flow forth from the left cavity of
the heart and tend towards the brain   the weaker and less agitated
parts must necessarily be driven aside from that point by the stronger
which alone in this way reach it I had expounded all these matters with
sufficient minuteness in the treatise which I formerly thought of
publishing   And after these  I had shown what must be the fabric of
the nerves and muscles of the human body to give the animal spirits
contained in it the power to move the members  as when we see heads
shortly after they have been struck off still move and bite the earth 
although no longer animated  what changes must take place in the brain
to produce waking  sleep  and dreams  how light  sounds  odors  tastes 
heat  and all the other qualities of external objects impress it with
different ideas by means of the senses  how hunger  thirst  and the
other internal affections can likewise impress upon it divers ideas 
what must be understood by the common sense  sensus communis  in which
these ideas are received  by the memory which retains them  by the
fantasy which can change them in various ways  and out of them compose
new ideas  and which  by the same means  distributing the animal
spirits through the muscles  can cause the members of such a body to
move in as many different ways  and in a manner as suited  whether to
the objects that are presented to its senses or to its internal
affections  as can take place in our own case apart from the guidance
of the will   Nor will this appear at all strange to those who are
acquainted with the variety of movements performed by the different
automata  or moving machines fabricated by human industry  and that
with help of but few pieces compared with the great multitude of bones 
muscles  nerves  arteries  veins  and other parts that are found in the
body of each animal   Such persons will look upon this body as a
machine made by the hands of God  which is incomparably better
arranged  and adequate to movements more admirable than is any machine
of human invention   And here I specially stayed to show that  were
there such machines exactly resembling organs and outward form an ape
or any other irrational animal  we could have no means of knowing that
they were in any respect of a different nature from these animals  but
if there were machines bearing the image of our bodies  and capable of
imitating our actions as far as it is morally possible  there would
still remain two most certain tests whereby to know that they were not
therefore really men   Of these the first is that they could never use
words or other signs arranged in such a manner as is competent to us in
order to declare our thoughts to others   for we may easily conceive a
machine to be so constructed that it emits vocables  and even that it
emits some correspondent to the action upon it of external objects
which cause a change in its organs  for example  if touched in a
particular place it may demand what we wish to say to it  if in another
it may cry out that it is hurt  and such like  but not that it should
arrange them variously so as appositely to reply to what is said in its
presence  as men of the lowest grade of intellect can do   The second
test is  that although such machines might execute many things with
equal or perhaps greater perfection than any of us  they would  without
doubt  fail in certain others from which it could be discovered that
they did not act from knowledge  but solely from the disposition of
their organs   for while reason is an universal instrument that is
alike available on every occasion  these organs  on the contrary  need
a particular arrangement for each particular action  whence it must be
morally impossible that there should exist in any machine a diversity
of organs sufficient to enable it to act in all the occurrences of
life  in the way in which our reason enables us to act   Again  by
means of these two tests we may likewise know the difference between
men and brutes   For it is highly deserving of remark  that there are
no men so dull and stupid  not even idiots  as to be incapable of
joining together different words  and thereby constructing a
declaration by which to make their thoughts understood  and that on the
other hand  there is no other animal  however perfect or happily
circumstanced  which can do the like   Nor does this inability arise
from want of organs   for we observe that magpies and parrots can utter
words like ourselves  and are yet unable to speak as we do  that is  so
as to show that they understand what they say  in place of which men
born deaf and dumb  and thus not less  but rather more than the brutes 
destitute of the organs which others use in speaking  are in the habit
of spontaneously inventing certain signs by which they discover their
thoughts to those who  being usually in their company  have leisure to
learn their language   And this proves not only that the brutes have
less reason than man  but that they have none at all   for we see that
very little is required to enable a person to speak  and since a
certain inequality of capacity is observable among animals of the same
species  as well as among men  and since some are more capable of being
instructed than others  it is incredible that the most perfect ape or
parrot of its species  should not in this be equal to the most stupid
infant of its kind or at least to one that was crack brained  unless
the soul of brutes were of a nature wholly different from ours   And we
ought not to confound speech with the natural movements which indicate
the passions  and can be imitated by machines as well as manifested by
animals  nor must it be thought with certain of the ancients  that the
brutes speak  although we do not understand their language   For if
such were the case  since they are endowed with many organs analogous
to ours  they could as easily communicate their thoughts to us as to
their fellows   It is also very worthy of remark  that  though there
are many animals which manifest more industry than we in certain of
their actions  the same animals are yet observed to show none at all in
many others   so that the circumstance that they do better than we does
not prove that they are endowed with mind  for it would thence follow
that they possessed greater reason than any of us  and could surpass us
in all things  on the contrary  it rather proves that they are
destitute of reason  and that it is nature which acts in them according
to the disposition of their organs   thus it is seen  that a clock
composed only of wheels and weights can number the hours and measure
time more exactly than we with all our skin 

I had after this described the reasonable soul  and shown that it could
by no means be educed from the power of matter  as the other things of
which I had spoken  but that it must be expressly created  and that it
is not sufficient that it be lodged in the human body exactly like a
pilot in a ship  unless perhaps to move its members  but that it is
necessary for it to be joined and united more closely to the body  in
order to have sensations and appetites similar to ours  and thus
constitute a real man   I here entered  in conclusion  upon the subject
of the soul at considerable length  because it is of the greatest
moment   for after the error of those who deny the existence of God  an
error which I think I have already sufficiently refuted  there is none
that is more powerful in leading feeble minds astray from the straight
path of virtue than the supposition that the soul of the brutes is of
the same nature with our own  and consequently that after this life we
have nothing to hope for or fear  more than flies and ants  in place of
which  when we know how far they differ we much better comprehend the
reasons which establish that the soul is of a nature wholly independent
of the body  and that consequently it is not liable to die with the
latter and  finally  because no other causes are observed capable of
destroying it  we are naturally led thence to judge that it is immortal 



PART VI

Three years have now elapsed since I finished the treatise containing
all these matters  and I was beginning to revise it  with the view to
put it into the hands of a printer  when I learned that persons to whom
I greatly defer  and whose authority over my actions is hardly less
influential than is my own reason over my thoughts  had condemned a
certain doctrine in physics  published a short time previously by
another individual to which I will not say that I adhered  but only
that  previously to their censure I had observed in it nothing which I
could imagine to be prejudicial either to religion or to the state  and
nothing therefore which would have prevented me from giving expression
to it in writing  if reason had persuaded me of its truth  and this led
me to fear lest among my own doctrines likewise some one might be found
in which I had departed from the truth  notwithstanding the great care
I have always taken not to accord belief to new opinions of which I had
not the most certain demonstrations  and not to give expression to
aught that might tend to the hurt of any one   This has been sufficient
to make me alter my purpose of publishing them  for although the
reasons by which I had been induced to take this resolution were very
strong  yet my inclination  which has always been hostile to writing
books  enabled me immediately to discover other considerations
sufficient to excuse me for not undertaking the task   And these
reasons  on one side and the other  are such  that not only is it in
some measure my interest here to state them  but that of the public 
perhaps  to know them 

I have never made much account of what has proceeded from my own mind 
and so long as I gathered no other advantage from the method I employ
beyond satisfying myself on some difficulties belonging to the
speculative sciences  or endeavoring to regulate my actions according
to the principles it taught me  I never thought myself bound to publish
anything respecting it   For in what regards manners  every one is so
full of his own wisdom  that there might be found as many reformers as
heads  if any were allowed to take upon themselves the task of mending
them  except those whom God has constituted the supreme rulers of his
people or to whom he has given sufficient grace and zeal to be
prophets  and although my speculations greatly pleased myself  I
believed that others had theirs  which perhaps pleased them still more 
But as soon as I had acquired some general notions respecting physics 
and beginning to make trial of them in various particular difficulties 
had observed how far they can carry us  and how much they differ from
the principles that have been employed up to the present time  I
believed that I could not keep them concealed without sinning
grievously against the law by which we are bound to promote  as far as
in us lies  the general good of mankind   For by them I perceived it to
be possible to arrive at knowledge highly useful in life  and in room
of the speculative philosophy usually taught in the schools  to
discover a practical  by means of which  knowing the force and action
of fire  water  air the stars  the heavens  and all the other bodies
that surround us  as distinctly as we know the various crafts of our
artisans  we might also apply them in the same way to all the uses to
which they are adapted  and thus render ourselves the lords and
possessors of nature   And this is a result to be desired  not only in
order to the invention of an infinity of arts  by which we might be
enabled to enjoy without any trouble the fruits of the earth  and all
its comforts  but also and especially for the preservation of health 
which is without doubt  of all the blessings of this life  the first
and fundamental one  for the mind is so intimately dependent upon the
condition and relation of the organs of the body  that if any means can
ever be found to render men wiser and more ingenious than hitherto  I
believe that it is in medicine they must be sought for   It is true
that the science of medicine  as it now exists  contains few things
whose utility is very remarkable   but without any wish to depreciate
it  I am confident that there is no one  even among those whose
profession it is  who does not admit that all at present known in it is
almost nothing in comparison of what remains to be discovered  and that
we could free ourselves from an infinity of maladies of body as well as
of mind  and perhaps also even from the debility of age  if we had
sufficiently ample knowledge of their causes  and of all the remedies
provided for us by nature   But since I designed to employ my whole
life in the search after so necessary a science  and since I had fallen
in with a path which seems to me such  that if any one follow it he
must inevitably reach the end desired  unless he be hindered either by
the shortness of life or the want of experiments  I judged that there
could be no more effectual provision against these two impediments than
if I were faithfully to communicate to the public all the little I
might myself have found  and incite men of superior genius to strive to
proceed farther  by contributing  each according to his inclination and
ability  to the experiments which it would be necessary to make  and
also by informing the public of all they might discover  so that  by
the last beginning where those before them had left off  and thus
connecting the lives and labours of many  we might collectively proceed
much farther than each by himself could do 

I remarked  moreover  with respect to experiments  that they become
always more necessary the more one is advanced in knowledge  for  at
the commencement  it is better to make use only of what is
spontaneously presented to our senses  and of which we cannot remain
ignorant  provided we bestow on it any reflection  however slight  than
to concern ourselves about more uncommon and recondite phenomena   the
reason of which is  that the more uncommon often only mislead us so
long as the causes of the more ordinary are still unknown  and the
circumstances upon which they depend are almost always so special and
minute as to be highly difficult to detect   But in this I have adopted
the following order   first  I have essayed to find in general the
principles  or first causes of all that is or can be in the world 
without taking into consideration for this end anything but God himself
who has created it  and without educing them from any other source than
from certain germs of truths naturally existing in our minds In the
second place  I examined what were the first and most ordinary effects
that could be deduced from these causes  and it appears to me that  in
this way  I have found heavens  stars  an earth  and even on the earth
water  air  fire  minerals  and some other things of this kind  which
of all others are the most common and simple  and hence the easiest to
know   Afterwards when I wished to descend to the more particular  so
many diverse objects presented themselves to me  that I believed it to
be impossible for the human mind to distinguish the forms or species of
bodies that are upon the earth  from an infinity of others which might
have been  if it had pleased God to place them there  or consequently
to apply them to our use  unless we rise to causes through their
effects  and avail ourselves of many particular experiments 
Thereupon  turning over in my mind I the objects that had ever been
presented to my senses I freely venture to state that I have never
observed any which I could not satisfactorily explain by the principles
had discovered   But it is necessary also to confess that the power of
nature is so ample and vast  and these principles so simple and
general  that I have hardly observed a single particular effect which I
cannot at once recognize as capable of being deduced in man different
modes from the principles  and that my greatest difficulty usually is
to discover in which of these modes the effect is dependent upon them 
for out of this difficulty cannot otherwise extricate myself than by
again seeking certain experiments  which may be such that their result
is not the same  if it is in the one of these modes at we must explain
it  as it would be if it were to be explained in the other   As to what
remains  I am now in a position to discern  as I think  with sufficient
clearness what course must be taken to make the majority those
experiments which may conduce to this end   but I perceive likewise
that they are such and so numerous  that neither my hands nor my
income  though it were a thousand times larger than it is  would be
sufficient for them all  so that according as henceforward I shall have
the means of making more or fewer experiments  I shall in the same
proportion make greater or less progress in the knowledge of nature 
This was what I had hoped to make known by the treatise I had written 
and so clearly to exhibit the advantage that would thence accrue to the
public  as to induce all who have the common good of man at heart  that
is  all who are virtuous in truth  and not merely in appearance  or
according to opinion  as well to communicate to me the experiments they
had already made  as to assist me in those that remain to be made 

But since that time other reasons have occurred to me  by which I have
been led to change my opinion  and to think that I ought indeed to go
on committing to writing all the results which I deemed of any moment 
as soon as I should have tested their truth  and to bestow the same
care upon them as I would have done had it been my design to publish
them   This course commended itself to me  as well because I thus
afforded myself more ample inducement to examine them thoroughly  for
doubtless that is always more narrowly scrutinized which we believe
will be read by many  than that which is written merely for our private
use  and frequently what has seemed to me true when I first conceived
it  has appeared false when I have set about committing it to writing  
as because I thus lost no opportunity of advancing the interests of the
public  as far as in me lay  and since thus likewise  if my writings
possess any value  those into whose hands they may fall after my death
may be able to put them to what use they deem proper   But I resolved
by no means to consent to their publication during my lifetime  lest
either the oppositions or the controversies to which they might give
rise  or even the reputation  such as it might be  which they would
acquire for me  should be any occasion of my losing the time that I had
set apart for my own improvement   For though it be true that every one
is bound to promote to the extent of his ability the good of others 
and that to be useful to no one is really to be worthless  yet it is
likewise true that our cares ought to extend beyond the present  and it
is good to omit doing what might perhaps bring some profit to the
living  when we have in view the accomplishment of other ends that will
be of much greater advantage to posterity   And in truth  I am quite
willing it should be known that the little I have hitherto learned is
almost nothing in comparison with that of which I am ignorant  and to
the knowledge of which I do not despair of being able to attain  for it
is much the same with those who gradually discover truth in the
sciences  as with those who when growing rich find less difficulty in
making great acquisitions  than they formerly experienced when poor in
making acquisitions of much smaller amount   Or they may be compared to
the commanders of armies  whose forces usually increase in proportion
to their victories  and who need greater prudence to keep together the
residue of their troops after a defeat than after a victory to take
towns and provinces   For he truly engages in battle who endeavors to
surmount all the difficulties and errors which prevent him from
reaching the knowledge of truth  and he is overcome in fight who admits
a false opinion touching a matter of any generality and importance  and
he requires thereafter much more skill to recover his former position
than to make great advances when once in possession of thoroughly
ascertained principles   As for myself  if I have succeeded in
discovering any truths in the sciences  and I trust that what is
contained in this volume I will show that I have found some   I can
declare that they are but the consequences and results of five or six
principal difficulties which I have surmounted  and my encounters with
which I reckoned as battles in which victory declared for me   I will
not hesitate even to avow my belief that nothing further is wanting to
enable me fully to realize my designs than to gain two or three similar
victories  and that I am not so far advanced in years but that 
according to the ordinary course of nature  I may still have sufficient
leisure for this end   But I conceive myself the more bound to husband
the time that remains the greater my expectation of being able to
employ it aright  and I should doubtless have much to rob me of it 
were I to publish the principles of my physics   for although they are
almost all so evident that to assent to them no more is needed than
simply to understand them  and although there is not one of them of
which I do not expect to be able to give demonstration  yet  as it is
impossible that they can be in accordance with all the diverse opinions
of others  I foresee that I should frequently be turned aside from my
grand design  on occasion of the opposition which they would be sure to
awaken 

It may be said  that these oppositions would be useful both in making
me aware of my errors  and  if my speculations contain anything of
value  in bringing others to a fuller understanding of it  and still
farther  as many can see better than one  in leading others who are now
beginning to avail themselves of my principles  to assist me in turn
with their discoveries   But though I recognize my extreme liability to
error  and scarce ever trust to the first thoughts which occur to me 
yet the experience I have had of possible objections to my views
prevents me from anticipating any profit from them   For I have already
had frequent proof of the judgments  as well of those I esteemed
friends  as of some others to whom I thought I was an object of
indifference  and even of some whose malignancy and envy would  I knew 
determine them to endeavor to discover what partiality concealed from
the eyes of my friends   But it has rarely happened that anything has
been objected to me which I had myself altogether overlooked  unless it
were something far removed from the subject   so that I have never met
with a single critic of my opinions who did not appear to me either
less rigorous or less equitable than myself   And further  I have never
observed that any truth before unknown has been brought to light by the
disputations that are practised in the schools  for while each strives
for the victory  each is much more occupied in making the best of mere
verisimilitude  than in weighing the reasons on both sides of the
question  and those who have been long good advocates are not
afterwards on that account the better judges 

As for the advantage that others would derive from the communication of
my thoughts  it could not be very great  because I have not yet so far
prosecuted them as that much does not remain to be added before they
can be applied to practice   And I think I may say without vanity  that
if there is any one who can carry them out that length  it must be
myself rather than another   not that there may not be in the world
many minds incomparably superior to mine  but because one cannot so
well seize a thing and make it one s own  when it has been learned from
another  as when one has himself discovered it   And so true is this of
the present subject that  though I have often explained some of my
opinions to persons of much acuteness  who  whilst I was speaking 
appeared to understand them very distinctly  yet  when they repeated
them  I have observed that they almost always changed them to such an
extent that I could no longer acknowledge them as mine   I am glad  by
the way  to take this opportunity of requesting posterity never to
believe on hearsay that anything has proceeded from me which has not
been published by myself  and I am not at all astonished at the
extravagances attributed to those ancient philosophers whose own
writings we do not possess  whose thoughts  however  I do not on that
account suppose to have been really absurd  seeing they were among the
ablest men of their times  but only that these have been falsely
represented to us   It is observable  accordingly  that scarcely in a
single instance has any one of their disciples surpassed them  and I am
quite sure that the most devoted of the present followers of Aristotle
would think themselves happy if they had as much knowledge of nature as
he possessed  were it even under the condition that they should never
afterwards attain to higher   In this respect they are like the ivy
which never strives to rise above the tree that sustains it  and which
frequently even returns downwards when it has reached the top  for it
seems to me that they also sink  in other words  render themselves less
wise than they would be if they gave up study  who  not contented with
knowing all that is intelligibly explained in their author  desire in
addition to find in him the solution of many difficulties of which he
says not a word  and never perhaps so much as thought   Their fashion
of philosophizing  however  is well suited to persons whose abilities
fall below mediocrity  for the obscurity of the distinctions and
principles of which they make use enables them to speak of all things
with as much confidence as if they really knew them  and to defend all
that they say on any subject against the most subtle and skillful 
without its being possible for any one to convict them of error   In
this they seem to me to be like a blind man  who  in order to fight on
equal terms with a person that sees  should have made him descend to
the bottom of an intensely dark cave   and I may say that such persons
have an interest in my refraining from publishing the principles of the
philosophy of which I make use  for  since these are of a kind the
simplest and most evident  I should  by publishing them  do much the
same as if I were to throw open the windows  and allow the light of day
to enter the cave into which the combatants had descended   But even
superior men have no reason for any great anxiety to know these
principles  for if what they desire is to be able to speak of all
things  and to acquire a reputation for learning  they will gain their
end more easily by remaining satisfied with the appearance of truth 
which can be found without much difficulty in all sorts of matters 
than by seeking the truth itself which unfolds itself but slowly and
that only in some departments  while it obliges us  when we have to
speak of others  freely to confess our ignorance   If  however  they
prefer the knowledge of some few truths to the vanity of appearing
ignorant of none  as such knowledge is undoubtedly much to be
preferred  and  if they choose to follow a course similar to mine  they
do not require for this that I should say anything more than I have
already said in this discourse   For if they are capable of making
greater advancement than I have made  they will much more be able of
themselves to discover all that I believe myself to have found  since
as I have never examined aught except in order  it is certain that what
yet remains to be discovered is in itself more difficult and recondite 
than that which I have already been enabled to find  and the
gratification would be much less in learning it from me than in
discovering it for themselves   Besides this  the habit which they will
acquire  by seeking first what is easy  and then passing onward slowly
and step by step to the more difficult  will benefit them more than all
my instructions   Thus  in my own case  I am persuaded that if I had
been taught from my youth all the truths of which I have since sought
out demonstrations  and had thus learned them without labour  I should
never  perhaps  have known any beyond these  at least  I should never
have acquired the habit and the facility which I think I possess in
always discovering new truths in proportion as I give myself to the
search   And  in a single word  if there is any work in the world which
cannot be so well finished by another as by him who has commenced it 
it is that at which I labour 

It is true  indeed  as regards the experiments which may conduce to
this end  that one man is not equal to the task of making them all  but
yet he can advantageously avail himself  in this work  of no hands
besides his own  unless those of artisans  or parties of the same kind 
whom he could pay  and whom the hope of gain  a means of great
efficacy  might stimulate to accuracy in the performance of what was
prescribed to them   For as to those who  through curiosity or a desire
of learning  of their own accord  perhaps  offer him their services 
besides that in general their promises exceed their performance  and
that they sketch out fine designs of which not one is ever realized 
they will  without doubt  expect to be compensated for their trouble by
the explication of some difficulties  or  at least  by compliments and
useless speeches  in which he cannot spend any portion of his time
without loss to himself   And as for the experiments that others have
already made  even although these parties should be willing of
themselves to communicate them to him  which is what those who esteem
them secrets will never do   the experiments are  for the most part 
accompanied with so many circumstances and superfluous elements  as to
make it exceedingly difficult to disentangle the truth from its
adjuncts  besides  he will find almost all of them so ill described  or
even so false  because those who made them have wished to see in them
only such facts as they deemed conformable to their principles   that 
if in the entire number there should be some of a nature suited to his
purpose  still their value could not compensate for the time what would
be necessary to make the selection   So that if there existed any one
whom we assuredly knew to be capable of making discoveries of the
highest kind  and of the greatest possible utility to the public  and
if all other men were therefore eager by all means to assist him in
successfully prosecuting his designs  I do not see that they could do
aught else for him beyond contributing to defray the expenses of the
experiments that might be necessary  and for the rest  prevent his
being deprived of his leisure by the unseasonable interruptions of any
one   But besides that I neither have so high an opinion of myself as
to be willing to make promise of anything extraordinary  nor feed on
imaginations so vain as to fancy that the public must be much
interested in my designs  I do not  on the other hand  own a soul so
mean as to be capable of accepting from any one a favor of which it
could be supposed that I was unworthy 

These considerations taken together were the reason why  for the last
three years  I have been unwilling to publish the treatise I had on
hand  and why I even resolved to give publicity during my life to no
other that was so general  or by which the principles of my physics
might be understood   But since then  two other reasons have come into
operation that have determined me here to subjoin some particular
specimens  and give the public some account of my doings and designs 
Of these considerations  the first is  that if I failed to do so  many
who were cognizant of my previous intention to publish some writings 
might have imagined that the reasons which induced me to refrain from
so doing  were less to my credit than they really are  for although I
am not immoderately desirous of glory  or even  if I may venture so to
say  although I am averse from it in so far as I deem it hostile to
repose which I hold in greater account than aught else  yet  at the
same time  I have never sought to conceal my actions as if they were
crimes  nor made use of many precautions that I might remain unknown 
and this partly because I should have thought such a course of conduct
a wrong against myself  and partly because it would have occasioned me
some sort of uneasiness which would again have been contrary to the
perfect mental tranquillity which I court   And forasmuch as  while
thus indifferent to the thought alike of fame or of forgetfulness  I
have yet been unable to prevent myself from acquiring some sort of
reputation  I have thought it incumbent on me to do my best to save
myself at least from being ill spoken of   The other reason that has
determined me to commit to writing these specimens of philosophy is 
that I am becoming daily more and more alive to the delay which my
design of self instruction suffers  for want of the infinity of
experiments I require  and which it is impossible for me to make
without the assistance of others   and  without flattering myself so
much as to expect the public to take a large share in my interests  I
am yet unwilling to be found so far wanting in the duty I owe to
myself  as to give occasion to those who shall survive me to make it
matter of reproach against me some day  that I might have left them
many things in a much more perfect state than I have done  had I not
too much neglected to make them aware of the ways in which they could
have promoted the accomplishment of my designs 

And I thought that it was easy for me to select some matters which
should neither be obnoxious to much controversy  nor should compel me
to expound more of my principles than I desired  and which should yet
be sufficient clearly to exhibit what I can or cannot accomplish in the
sciences   Whether or not I have succeeded in this it is not for me to
say  and I do not wish to forestall the judgments of others by speaking
myself of my writings  but it will gratify me if they be examined  and 
to afford the greater inducement to this I request all who may have any
objections to make to them  to take the trouble of forwarding these to
my publisher  who will give me notice of them  that I may endeavor to
subjoin at the same time my reply  and in this way readers seeing both
at once will more easily determine where the truth lies  for I do not
engage in any case to make prolix replies  but only with perfect
frankness to avow my errors if I am convinced of them  or if I cannot
perceive them  simply to state what I think is required for defense of
the matters I have written  adding thereto no explication of any new
matte that it may not be necessary to pass without end from one thing
to another 

If some of the matters of which I have spoken in the beginning of the
 Dioptrics  and  Meteorics  should offend at first sight  because I
call them hypotheses and seem indifferent about giving proof of them  I
request a patient and attentive reading of the whole  from which I hope
those hesitating will derive satisfaction  for it appears to me that
the reasonings are so mutually connected in these treatises  that  as
the last are demonstrated by the first which are their causes  the
first are in their turn demonstrated by the last which are their
effects   Nor must it be imagined that I here commit the fallacy which
the logicians call a circle  for since experience renders the majority
of these effects most certain  the causes from which I deduce them do
not serve so much to establish their reality as to explain their
existence  but on the contrary  the reality of the causes is
established by the reality of the effects   Nor have I called them
hypotheses with any other end in view except that it may be known that
I think I am able to deduce them from those first truths which I have
already expounded  and yet that I have expressly determined not to do
so  to prevent a certain class of minds from thence taking occasion to
build some extravagant philosophy upon what they may take to be my
principles  and my being blamed for it   I refer to those who imagine
that they can master in a day all that another has taken twenty years
to think out  as soon as he has spoken two or three words to them on
the subject  or who are the more liable to error and the less capable
of perceiving truth in very proportion as they are more subtle and
lively   As to the opinions which are truly and wholly mine  I offer no
apology for them as new   persuaded as I am that if their reasons be
well considered they will be found to be so simple and so conformed  to
common sense as to appear less extraordinary and less paradoxical than
any others which can be held on the same subjects  nor do I even boast
of being the earliest discoverer of any of them  but only of having
adopted them  neither because they had nor because they had not been
held by others  but solely because reason has convinced me of their
truth 

Though artisans may not be able at once to execute the invention which
is explained in the  Dioptrics   I do not think that any one on that
account is entitled to condemn it  for since address and practice are
required in order so to make and adjust the machines described by me as
not to overlook the smallest particular  I should not be less
astonished if they succeeded on the first attempt than if a person were
in one day to become an accomplished performer on the guitar  by merely
having excellent sheets of music set up before him   And if I write in
French  which is the language of my country  in preference to Latin 
which is that of my preceptors  it is because I expect that those who
make use of their unprejudiced natural reason will be better judges of
my opinions than those who give heed to the writings of the ancients
only  and as for those who unite good sense with habits of study  whom
alone I desire for judges  they will not  I feel assured  be so partial
to Latin as to refuse to listen to my reasonings merely because I
expound them in the vulgar tongue 

In conclusion  I am unwilling here to say anything very specific of the
progress which I expect to make for the future in the sciences  or to
bind myself to the public by any promise which I am not certain of
being able to fulfill  but this only will I say  that I have resolved
to devote what time I may still have to live to no other occupation
than that of endeavoring to acquire some knowledge of Nature  which
shall be of such a kind as to enable us therefrom to deduce rules in
medicine of greater certainty than those at present in use  and that my
inclination is so much opposed to all other pursuits  especially to
such as cannot be useful to some without being hurtful to others  that
if  by any circumstances  I had been constrained to engage in such  I
do not believe that I should have been able to succeed   Of this I here
make a public declaration  though well aware that it cannot serve to
procure for me any consideration in the world  which  however  I do not
in the least affect  and I shall always hold myself more obliged to
those through whose favor I am permitted to enjoy my retirement without
interruption than to any who might offer me the highest earthly
preferments 









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