The ''Search for Truth by Natural Light'' (') is an unfinished philosophical

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

René Descartes René Descartes ( , ; ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...

“set in the courtly culture of the ‘’ and ‘’.” It was written in French (presumably after the

Meditations ''Meditations'' () is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161–180 AD, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Composition Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the ''Meditations'' i ...

was completed) but that was lost around 1700 and remained lost until a partial copy was discovered in G.W. Leibniz's papers in Hanover in 1908 and published in the Adam-Tannery edition of Descartes's works and correspondence (vol. X, pp. 495-532). A Latin translation, , was published in 1683 as part of ''Renati Des-Cartes Musicae compendium'' ( Blaviana printing house, Amsterdam) and again in 1701 as part of ''R. Des-Cartes Opuscula posthuma, physica et mathematica'' (Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios, Boom et Goethals, Amsterdam); it was also included in a Dutch translation of a collection of letters from Descartes published in 1684 by J.H. Glazemaker. A definitive edition, containing the partial French text plus the fuller Dutch and Latin translations on facing pages was published in 2002. (''critical edition'') The opening passage (translated by Norman Kemp Smith to English in 1957) "is a helpful commentary on the argument of Articles 74-78" of The Passions of the Soul.

Descartes’s intent

Descartes begins by observing that "even though all the science that we can desire is to be found in books, what they contain of good is mixed with so many uselessness, and dispersed in the mass of so many large volumes, that for it would take longer to read than human life gives us, and to recognize what is useful in it, more talent than to find it ourselves. He therefore adds: "This is what makes me hope that the reader will not be sorry to find here a more abbreviated way, and that the truths which I will put forward will be acceptable to him, although I do not borrow them from Plato or to

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

The dialogue

Descartes then imagines a conversation between three characters: Eudoxus (Descartes's "mouthpiece"), Polyander and Epistemon. Eudoxus is a man endowed with an ordinary mind, but whose judgment is not spoiled by any false opinion, and who has all his reason intact, as he received it from nature; in his

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

, where he lives, he receives a visit from two men of the greatest mind, and the most distinguished of the century, one of whom (Polyander) has never studied anything, while the other (Épistemon ) knows very well everything that can be learned in schools. Eudoxus praises the merits of

doubt Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, and is certainty, uncertain about them. Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and wikt:disbelief, disbelief. It may i ...

: "Only pay me your attention; I will take you further than you think. Indeed, it is from this universal doubt that, as from a fixed and immutable point, I have resolved to derive the knowledge of God, of yourself, and of all that the world contains".

The cogito

Descartes provides, in this reply by Eudoxus to Epistemon, his only statement of the cogito per se, and admits that his insight is also expressible as ''dubito, ergo sum'':

Notes

References

External links