Discourse on Method and Related Writings

Book Description
A new, superb translation of Descartes' seminal contribution to modern philosophy and science.

The age of Newton marks one of the great turning points in intellectual history, and Descartes has a key place at its very heart. Designed for students who approach Descartes from the point of view of his philosophy of science, this is the second of a new two-volume edition of the works of Descartes in Penguin Classics. Descartes did major research in optics, geometry, astronomy, and physiology, although (partly because Galileo had just been condemned by the Inquisition) he published nothing until he was over forty. The Discourse forms the preface to his first collection of scientific papers, outlining a new method based on hypothesis and deduction, which effectively replaced Aristotelian techniques. This edition puts the work in context by including extracts from Descartes' correspondence, the Rules for Guiding One's Intelligence, and The World--a posthumously published summary of his physical theories.

Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Desmond M. Clarke


About the Author
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was born in La Haye, France, and educated at the Jesuit College at La Fleche. In 1628 he retired to the Netherlands to study philosophy until 1649, when he was invited to Sweden to instruct Queen Christina.

Desmond M. Clarke is chair and head of the Department of Philosophy at the National University of Ireland, Cork.


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Rene Descartes (1596-1650) did major research in optics, geometry, astronomy and physiology, although (partly because Galileo had just been condemned by the Inquisition) he published nothing until he was over forty. The Discourse forms the preface to his first collection of scientific papers (1637), sketching in a new method based on hypothesis and deduction which was soon to replace traditional techniques derived from Aristotle. This edition puts the work in context, by including extracts from Descartes' correspondence, the Rules for Guiding One's Intelligence and from The World -- a posthumously published summary of his physical theories, which at one point in its chequered life had to be rescued from the river Seine. The age of Newton marks one of the great turning points in intellectual history; Descartes has a key place at its very heart.


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