Descartes teaching the Princess.

The Three Rules of Descartes Renee Descartes spent the twenty most productive years of his life living in the Dutch Republic, where he unknowingly combined many of the old philosophies of the Romans with the present scientific empirical revolution to create a truly unique philosophy. His brilliance in mathematics, more specifically analytical geometry, which he invented, was also combined into his philosophies to give his work a truly unique flavor.

Descartes, along with many other Renaissance Men, adopted the main scientific focuses that Leonardo da Vinci adopted, physiology, metaphysics, mechanics, and the mathematical opinion, but the mathematical aspects are the most prevalent in his philosophy. IN the Renaissance, science was viewed as a tree. Metaphysics was the tree's roots, physics was the trunk of the tree and the branches were morals, medicine, and mechanics. Descartes applied himself to the roots of the tree, metaphysics, so that the trunk and branches would be strong.

Descartes was of the belief that science should be grounded, not in observation and prediction, as Frances Bacon thought at that same time, but Descartes saw science grounded in absolute certainty. He used three principles to describe his philosophy.

1. To employ the procedure of complete and doubt to eliminate every belief that does not pass the test of indubitability (skepticism);

2. To accept no idea as certain that is not clear, distinct, and free of contradiction (mathematicism).

3. To found all knowledge upon the bedrock certainty of self-consciousness, so that "I think, therefore I am" becomes the only innate idea unshakable by doubt (subjectivism).

Here is my personal interpretation of the three rules of Descartes' philosophy, as I see them.

Descartes' first principle says, in a nutshell, everything is untrue until proved true. He attempts to install a great wall of doubt between truth and unproven statements. Unlike the American philosophy, "Innocent until proven guilty," Descartes pushes for the, "Guilty until proven innocent," view. I think these rigorous standards for proof are able to filter many of the half-truths that the scientific community chooses to believe. (See Fermat's Last Theorem.) Rigorous standards make the things that people do believe more believable. A base of truth is very necessary for any scientist. Questioning 1+1=2 is healthy for an inquiring mind, but disbelieving 1+1=2 simply because it cannot be directly proven creates a strong base for inquiry. Question everything, doubt everything, and believe only the most believable, is Descartes' philosophy.

Descartes' second principle is related to the first, but only in the rigorous standard that truth needs to be unfallable in all aspects of fact. This does follow modern philosophy comparing it again to an aspect of law. It is similar to the "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," philosophy. If there is even the slightest doubt that proof is not totally true, it cannot be true.

Descartes' third principle is the strongest in its implications. In my interpretation, Descartes states that the one thing that cannot be questioned is consciousness. His famous, "Cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am.) is the only unquestionable truth. A person exists because he thinks. If you think, "Do I exist?" the simple act of thinking is enough to prove existence. Consider this, the truth, "Cogito ergo sum" is the base, the bedrock of all truth and knowledge. It stands as the foundation of the building of knowledge, the strong taproot of the tree of knowledge, the keystone in the arch of knowledge. Remove this unshakable truth, and change to doubt would make the building collapse, the tree fall over, or the arch crumble. In any system of belief, there needs to be a fact that sets the base for all of the truth and knowledge and belief that is unshakable in its surety.

Descartes' principles are rigorous in their proof of truth. No untruth or half-truth may slip through the strong fingers of Descartes proof machine.

Source:
"The History of Western Philosophy: Modern philosophy:
THE RENAISSANCE AND EARLY MODERN PERIOD:
Rise of Empiricism and Rationalism.: Rationalism of Descartes."
Britannica Online.
http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=macro/5005/1/51.html
[Accessed 12 April 1998].

Addi Faerber 1998.