René Descartes Discourse On The Method

An early example of enlightenment

René Descartes was a philosopher who lived in the 17th century. His writings were mainly about mathematics, philosophy and physics. His treatise Discourse on the method was published in 1637.

The Discourse on the method is a philosophical treatise about the scientific method and correct reasoning. The treatise is divided into six parts, each concerning different aspects of acquiring correct knowledge or displaying derivations of his method.

Descartes lived in the 17th century, which is a bit earlier than is usually regarded as the age of enlightenment. Naturally, this means that his writings were published before the enlightened ideas became more common. Despite this, Discourse on the method has plenty of typical traits of publications from the

The book was published decades before the times which are usually considered to be part of the enlightened era. This makes the book's typicality more than slightly questionable.

Besides the time of the treatise's publication, when evaluating it's aptitude to fit the category, the book has some atypical traits and lacks in some aspects.

The book has a very philosophically oriented perspective and applies it's philosophy scarcely into the real world. Unlike many other books from the era, it doesn't try to improve or change the surrounding society directly, but instead tells how to find correct knowledge, which could be used for the good of others.

Also, Descartes shows an slightly atypical approach to God's existence in this treatise. Especially in the later 1700's, many enlightened philosophers were indifferent or critical about deities' existence. In contrast of this, in the book Descartes regards God's existence essential for the basis of his philosophy. He even tries to prove God's existence in the third part of the treatise and then uses it as an fundamental part of