Mathematician, physicist and philosopher, author of "Method Discourse” and the “Metaphysical Meditations”, Descartes elaborated a new method of knowledge founded on reason, the only one capable of allowing man to reach a perfect knowledge of the highest truths. The famous "cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am!) makes thought the principle of existence.
Having made his classical studies with the Jesuits of La Fléche, Descartes soon became interested in mathematics as if they were the cause of the certainty and evidence of his reasons. The system he devised is marked by rigor. In the preface of the Principles of Philosophy, he defines knowledge (Philosophy) similar to a tree. The roots are constituted by Metaphysics, indicating that all knowledge of the system is based on the existence of God, considered as the revealer and creator of truths. It is, therefore, from God that man must deduce the indispensable rules for understanding the world. From this perspective, Physics is the application of this conception of knowledge, forming the trunk of the tree. And, finally, the branches are constituted by the other sciences (Medicine, Mechanics) and the moral, which appear as the results of the research, about which Descartes himself sketches great treatises.
The Cartesian method resulting from this conception takes as its starting point the solution of “blank slate” which consists in denying all existence, all given. But denying in itself supposes the existence of a thought, since it is necessary to think in order to deny, thus evidencing the existence of a reason. This reason is susceptible to knowing the truth, because God exists, at the same time having created the world and the necessary tool to know it. That tool is the human spirit.
But man is fallible and to use the method correctly it is necessary to use some common principles. Are they:
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- Knowing that common sense is the best shared thing in the world, as a power to judge well and distinguish the true from the false. This is what we call good sense or Reason and which is the same in all men;
- Need for a method: it is not enough to have a good spirit, but the main thing is to apply it well. Great souls are capable of the greatest vices as well as the greatest virtues;
- Intellectual probity: never accepting something as true without having evidently known it, that is, avoiding precipitation and prevention;
- Political loyalty and moderation: the first rule is to obey the laws and customs of my country, constantly observing the religion in which God has given man the grace to be instructed from childhood, and he must govern himself following the most moderate and distant opinions of the excesses;
- Stoic acceptance of the world: always taking care of overcoming oneself instead of wanting to change others;
- Primacy of thought and limit of skepticism: noting that the cogito it is so firm and sure that no extravagant skeptical assumption would be able to weaken it, it must be held by the first principle of Philosophy.
Thus, by understanding reality in an evident and, therefore, rational, thought-out way, we can use the principles of the philosophical method in order to preserve our health, manage business better and also make ourselves better, moving away from superstition and presumption without falling into skepticism. absolute. Ultimately, God is the truth that guarantees the subject the power to know.
By João Francisco P. Cabral
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Philosophy from the Federal University of Uberlândia - UFU
Master's student in Philosophy at the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
CABRAL, João Francisco Pereira. "The Cartesian Tree, Metaphysical Principles and God"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/filosofia/a-arvore-cartesiana-os-principios-metafisicos-deus.htm. Accessed on July 27, 2021.
