INTRODUCTION BY THE TRANSLATOR.
The Discourse on Method principally contains two things:—
1. An account of the Philosophical Method of its author.[1]
2. A summary of the Chief Results of the Method.
- ↑ Descartes was born at La Haye, in Touraine, in the year 1596, and died at Stockholm in 1650. Of the particulars of his life it is unnecessary to say anything, as a knowledge of them is easily accessible. The Discourse on Method contains, moreover, an account of the rise and progress of his speculations; and it is in his character of thinker and philosophical reformer that we have now to deal with him.
The principal works of Descartes are—
1. The four Treatises originally published in a single volume with the following title, {{lang|fr|Discours de la Méthode pour bien conduire sa Raison, et chercher la Vérité dans les Sciences. Plus, la Dioptrique, les Météores, et la Géométrie, qui sont des Essais de cette Méthode]]. Leyden, 1637.
The Method, Dioptrics, and Meteorics, were translated into Latin by Courcelles, and published at Amsterdam in 1644. There is also by Descartes a fragmentary treatise, the subject of which is kindred to that of the Method. It is entitled, Regulæ ad Directionem Ingenii; and to it is annexed another entitled, Inquisitio Veritatis per Lumen Naturale. These were published posthumously.
2. Meditationes de primâ Philosophiâ, ubi de Dei existentiâ, et animæ immortalitate. Paris, 1641.
3. Principia Philosophiæ. Amsterdam, 1644.
4. Traité des Passions de l'Ame. Amsterdam, 1649.
