Rene Descartes Discourse On Method Analysis

Unfortunately, these ideas are very counter-cultural and some people just don’t want these ideas proclaimed. Some people are just confused between what society is selling and the true philosopher. Some people just try to make up a philosophy on their own and this is what happened with the writing of Rene Descartes in his work entitled, Discourse on Method. Descartes create a method that discredits God, truth and community because, he believes, all reasoning and truth is found in the individual. The biggest issue with Descartes method is the very first step, which is “to accept nothing as true which I did not clearly recognize to be so.” (Discourse, 14). This would lead anyone into the error, that if they encountered anything outside their experiences, these encounters would be deemed not true. As well as the

last step of his method when it makes an assumption that all his reviews will be complete and not in error. We see this when Descartes writes, “That last in all cases to make enumerations so complete and reviews so general that I should be certain of having omitted nothing.” (Discourse, 14).

This step in Descartes method puts him in a supreme position above all error, making him perfect. When speaking of God, he incorporates his fascination with mathematics and compares God with geometry. Descartes writes, “Consequently it is at least certain God, who is a being so perfect, is, or exists, as any demonstration of geometry can possibly be.” (Descartes, 26). Here we see that God is a complex puzzle that needs to be solved. God is compared to geometry and Descartes thinks God is a problem that he is able to figure out, like one studying a math problem. Descartes moves to Holland where he is not able to speak the language, therefore he does not need to be bothered by people and can be alone with his thoughts. Descartes is totally wrong, he removed himself from the community and believes that he is the ultimate authority in all things. We must shine the light of truth on these errors because those lacking in proper formation can be fooled into believing this is truth. Descartes minimizes God to a math problem that needs to be solved, he makes himself the authority of truth and breaks with any type of community that could provide

fraternal correction. The most concerning error that Descartes makes is his contemplation on the statement “I think, therefore I am.” (Discourse, 24). Here he goes into a rambling about the only way something can exist is if it can think. Since we are only certain that we can think and cannot be certain anyone or anything else can think, we must question the existing of everything. Even though Descartes comes to the conclusion that God exists, the belief that we can only be certain of our own existence, because we cannot prove anything else can think, actually discredits the existence of God. Do we know if God thinks? I do not believe that Descartes recognized the inconsistency in his argument. Because of these issues we must disregard Descartes totally.
In Conclusion, we would be able to live a good life by following the example of Plato and Pieper. We should, first and foremost, live in friendship with God and only work so that we can live our primary function of leisure. Our leisure must be focused on the divine worship and communal public sacrifice. We must also live in love and friendship with others as God has loved us. This love must be a self-sacrificial love that brings truth and happiness to others, disregarding our own pleasure for the well-being of others. Finally, we should disregard all the ideas of Descartes because his method will lead to utter confusion and our rejection of community, love, and God. This is how we ought to live.