A Discourse on Method

Descartes is universally acknowledged as the father of modern Western philosophy. It is to the writings of Descartes, above all others that we must turn if we wish to understand the great seventeenth-century revolution in which the old scholastic worldview slowly lost its grip, and the foundations of modern philosophical and scientific thinking were laid. The range of Descartes thought was enormous, and his published work includes writings on mathematics, physics, astronomy, meteorology, optics, physiology, psychology, metaphysics and ethics. A Discourse On Method was written in 1637 for the general public as well as for academics. This work provides a sketch of Descartes' method of philosophical inquiry and also of his general philosophical system: metaphysical, physical, physiological, and moral.