In this respect, what Bacon[1] accomplished in Britain, Descartes accomplished on the Continent.
But, in the third place, it is not enough that the mind be disenthralled, and permitted to go in search of principles in independence of authority; care must be taken that liberty do not degenerate into license. After the Cartesian preliminary, it was possible that the mind might be carried away by the mere pleasure of activity; and, as the degree of activity is higher, and consequently the pleasure, in proportion to the absence of impediment or of rule, the danger of the mental activity setting at nought all limits, or of mind acting without rule, was great. Hence the need of a fixed or regular philosophical procedure as the only guarantee of reaching truth and certainty, hence, in a word, the need of a Method. This leads us to inquire more particularly into the nature of Method.
III. On this point we have an explicit declaration by Descartes himself, which is at once brief and comprehensive. "By Method (he says) I understand rules certain and easy, such as to
- ↑ The Philosophical Reformation accomplished by Descartes was effected in absolute independence of Bacon. Descartes was no doubt acquainted with the works of Bacon in the year 1633 (Ep. Pars. ii. Ep. lxvii.), and even perhaps so early as 1626. These admissions do not, however, affect his absolute originality, for we know from his own statement that he had commenced in 1619 to seek truth in independence of authority, and according to the principles of the Method which even then he had thought out for himself. But Descartes, in truth, in what he essayed and accomplished, and in the means he adopted, has but little in common with Bacon.
