René Descarte's 4 Rules of Logic
4 Laws of Logic
Rene Descartes was a 17th Century Fresh Philosopher, Mathematician and Scientist responsible for re-igniting the philosophical fire at the end of the previous century. Prior to serving in the Dutch Army he lived on his private income and described himself as a soldier, mathematician, thinker and a gentleman. He rose at noon, well after his contemporaries and travel from destination to destination as and the he pleased. One day he had a vision of a mathematical that the internal workings of the universe could be explained by a single mathematical equation and had three strange dreams that night which had a profound effect on Descartes. He promptly left the Army and travelled through France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Denmark and Poland whilst skilfully avoiding his comrades.Eventually he retired in 1628 to the north of France but did not hesitate to move over 15 times in as many years.
Descartes is easy to read as he is able to explain complex themes in layman's terms. He explains his concepts rationally step by step making his ideas comprehensible and readable.
Prior to journeying to Sweden against his will, an expedition which ultimately resulted in his death, Descartes created 4 Rules of Logic that he would use to aid him in daily life. They are:
1. Never to accept anything as true unless I did not understand it to clearly be so, carefully avoiding precipitant conclusions and preconceptions and to include nothing more in my judgement that that which is clear in my mind, so that I had no reason to doubt it
2. To divide each difficulty examined into as many parts as possible and as might be necessary for a proper solution
3. To conduct my thoughts in an orderly fashion starting with the simplest and most easily known objects so I can ascend step by step to more complex knowledge, giving some order to those objects which to appear to have none
4. Always to make enumerations so complete and reviews so comprehensive that I can be sure not to leave anything out
-
JL
Descartes is easy to read as he is able to explain complex themes in layman's terms. He explains his concepts rationally step by step making his ideas comprehensible and readable.
Prior to journeying to Sweden against his will, an expedition which ultimately resulted in his death, Descartes created 4 Rules of Logic that he would use to aid him in daily life. They are:
1. Never to accept anything as true unless I did not understand it to clearly be so, carefully avoiding precipitant conclusions and preconceptions and to include nothing more in my judgement that that which is clear in my mind, so that I had no reason to doubt it
2. To divide each difficulty examined into as many parts as possible and as might be necessary for a proper solution
3. To conduct my thoughts in an orderly fashion starting with the simplest and most easily known objects so I can ascend step by step to more complex knowledge, giving some order to those objects which to appear to have none
4. Always to make enumerations so complete and reviews so comprehensive that I can be sure not to leave anything out
-
JL
Comments
Post a Comment