按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
for; on the contrary; my design was singly to find ground of assurance; and cast aside the loose earth and sand; that I might reach the rock or the clay。 In this; as appears to me; I was successful enough; for; since I endeavored to discover the falsehood or incertitude of the propositions I examined; not by feeble conjectures; but by clear and certain reasonings; I met with nothing so doubtful as not to yield some conclusion of adequate certainty; although this were merely the inference; that the matter in question contained nothing certain。 And; just as in pulling down an old house; we usually reserve the ruins to contribute towards the erection; so; in destroying such of my opinions as I judged to be Ill…founded; I made a variety of observations and acquired an amount of experience of which I availed myself in the establishment of more certain。 And further; I continued to exercise myself in the method I had prescribed; for; besides taking care in general to conduct all my thoughts according to its rules; I reserved some hours from time to time which I expressly devoted to the employment of the method in the solution of mathematical difficulties; or even in the solution likewise of some questions belonging to other sciences; but which; by my having detached them from such principles of these sciences as were of inadequate certainty; were rendered almost mathematical: the truth of this will be manifest from the numerous examples contained in this volume。 And thus; without in appearance living otherwise than those who; with no other occupation than that of spending their lives agreeably and innocently; study to sever pleasure from vice; and who; that they may enjoy their leisure without ennui; have recourse to such pursuits as are honorable; I was nevertheless prosecuting my design; and making greater progress in the knowledge of truth; than I might; perhaps; have made had I been engaged in the perusal of books merely; or in holding converse with men of letters。
These nine years passed away; however; before I had come to any determinate judgment respecting the difficulties which form matter of dispute among the learned; or had commenced to seek the principles of any philosophy more certain than the vulgar。 And the examples of many men of the highest genius; who had; in former times; engaged in this inquiry; but; as appeared to me; without success; led me to imagine it to be a work of so much difficulty; that I would not perhaps have ventured on it so soon had I not heard it currently rumored that I had already completed the inquiry。 I know not what were the grounds of this opinion; and; if my conversation contributed in any measure to its rise; this must have happened rather from my having confessed my Ignorance with greater freedom than those are accustomed to do who have studied a little; and expounded perhaps; the reasons that led me to doubt of many of those things that by others are esteemed certain; than from my having boasted of any system of philosophy。 But; as I am of a disposition that makes me unwilling to be esteemed different from what I really am; I thought it necessary to endeavor by all means to render myself worthy of the reputation accorded to me; and it is now exactly eight years since this desire constrained me to remove from all those places where interruption from any of my acquaintances was possible; and betake myself to this country; in which the long duration of the war has led to the establishment of such discipline; that the armies maintained seem to be of use only in enabling the inhabitants to enjoy more securely the blessings of peace and where; in the midst of a great crowd actively engaged in business; and more careful of their own affairs than curious about those of others; I have been enabled to live without being deprived of any of the conveniences to be had in the most populous cities; and yet as solitary and as retired as in the midst of the most remote deserts。
PART IV
I am in doubt as to the propriety of making my first meditations in the place above mentioned matter of discourse; for these are so metaphysical; and so uncommon; as not; perhaps; to be acceptable to every one。 And yet; that it may be determined whether the foundations that I have laid are sufficiently secure; I find myself in a measure constrained to advert to them。 I had long before remarked that; in relation to practice; it is sometimes necessary to adopt; as if above doubt; opinions which we discern to be highly uncertain; as has been already said; but as I then desired to give my attention solely to the search after truth; I thought that a procedure exactly the opposite was called for; and that I ought to reject as absolutely false all opinions in regard to which I could suppose the least ground for doubt; in order to ascertain whether after that there remained aught in my belief that was wholly indubitable。 Accordingly; seeing that our senses sometimes deceive us; I was willing to suppose that there existed nothing really such as they presented to us; and because some men err in reasoning; and fall into paralogisms; even on the simplest matters of geometry; I; convinced that I was as open to error as any other; rejected as false all the reasonings I had hitherto taken for demonstrations; and finally; when I considered that the very same thoughts (presentations) which we experience when awake may also be experienced when we are asleep; while there is at that time not one of them true; I supposed that all the objects (presentations) that had ever entered into my mind when awake; had in them no more truth than the illusions of my dreams。 But immediately upon this I observed that; whilst I thus wished to think that all was false; it was absolutely necessary that I; who thus thought; should be somewhat; and as I observed that this truth; I think; therefore I am (COGITO ERGO SUM); was so certain and of such evidence that no ground of doubt; however extravagant; could be alleged by the sceptics capable of shaking it; I concluded that I might; without scruple; accept it as the first principle of the philosophy of which I was in search
In the next place; I attentively examined what I was and as I observed that I could suppose that I had no body; and that there was no world nor any place in which I might be; but that I could not therefore suppose that I was not; and that; on the contrary; from the very circumstance that I thought to doubt of the truth of other things; it most clearly and certainly followed that I was; while; on the other hand; if I had only ceased to think; although all the other objects which I had ever imagined had been in reality existent; I would have had no reason to believe that I existed; I thence concluded that I was a substance whose whole essence or nature consists only in thinking; and which; that it may exist; has need of no place; nor is dependent on any material thing; so that 〃 I;〃 that is to say; the mind by which I am what I am; is wholly distinct from the body; and is even more easily known than the latter; and is such; that although the latter were not; it would still continue to be all that it is。
After this I inquired in general into what is essential I to the truth and certainty of a proposition; for since I had discovered one which I knew to be true; I thought that I must likewise be able to discover the ground of this certitude。 And as I observed that in the words I think; therefore I am; there is nothing at all which gives me assurance of their truth beyond this; that I see very clearly that in order to think it is necessary to exist; I concluded that I might take; as a general rule; the principle; that all the things which we very clearly and distinctly conceive are true; only observing; however; that there is some difficulty in rightly determining the objects which we distinctly conceive。
In the next place; from reflecting on the circumstance that I doubted; and that consequently my being was not wholly perfect (for I clearly saw that it was a greater perfection to know than to doubt); I was led to inquire whence I had learned to think of something more perfect than myself; and I clearly recognized that I must hold this notion from some nature which in reality was more perfect。 As for the thoughts of many other objects external to me; as of the sky; the earth; light; heat; and a thousand more; I was less at a loss to know whence these came; for since I remarked in them nothing which seemed to render them superior to myself; I could believe that; if these were true; they were dependencies on my own nature; in so far as it possessed a certain perfection; and; if they were false; that I held them from nothing; that is to say; that they were in me because of a certain imperfection of my nature。 But this could not be the case with…the idea of a nature more perfect than myself; for to receive it from nothing was a thing manifestly impossible; and; because it is not less repugnant that the more perfect should be an effect of; and dependence on the less perfect; than that something should proceed from nothing; it was equally impossible that I could hold it from myself: accordingly; it but remained that it had been placed in me by a nature which was in reality more p