Method on Superphysics

The rules to be observed in the search for truth

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Making the mind more attentive and more extensive are the only ways that can make it more perfect, more enlightened and more penetrating.

the rules that it is absolutely necessary to observe in the resolution of all questions.

The Rules

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From the general rule concerning the subject of our studies. Let the philosophers of the school not observe it; this is the cause of many errors in physics.

The first of these rules, and those concerning the subject of our studies, teaches us that we should reason only about clear ideas. From this we must draw the consequence that, in order to study systematically, we must begin with the simplest and easiest things to understand, and even dwell on them for a long time before undertaking the investigation of the more composite and more difficult ones.

The Most Dangerous Error of Ancient Philosophy

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Not only do philosophers say what they do not truly conceive when they explain the effects of nature by certain beings of which they have no distinct idea; they even provide a principle from which one can directly draw consequences that are very false and very dangerous.

The Second Part of the General Rule

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Descartes has observed most exactly what philosophers do not observe it at all

We have just shown into what errors one is capable of falling when reasoning from the false and confused ideas of the senses, and from the vague and indeterminate ideas of pure logic. By this, one recognizes clearly enough that, to preserve evidence in one’s perceptions, it is absolutely necessary to observe exactly the rule we have just prescribed, and to examine what the clear and distinct ideas of things are, in order to reason only according to these ideas.

The Principles of Aristotle's Philosophy

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Wherein it is shown that he never observed the second part of the general rule, and wherein his four elements and elementary qualities are examined.

In order that one may make some comparison between the philosophy of Descartes and that of Aristotle, it is proper that I represent in abstract what the latter thought of elements and natural bodies in general, and what the most learned believe he did in his four books On the Heavens; for his eight books of Physics belong rather to logic or, if you will, to metaphysics than to physics, since they consist of nothing but vague and general words that represent no distinct and particular idea to the mind. These four books are entitled On the Heavens because the sky is the principal of the simple bodies of which he treats.

General Advice

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General Advice Necessary for Conducting Oneself Methodically in the Search for Truth and in the Choice of Sciences

Lest it be said that I do nothing but destroy without establishing anything certain and incontestable in this work, it is proper that I briefly set forth here the order one must maintain in their studies to avoid error. I shall also point out a few highly necessary truths and sciences in which an evidence is met so clear that one cannot help but assent to them without suffering the secret reproaches of one’s reason. I will not explain these truths and sciences at great length, as that has already been done; I do not intend to reprint the works of others, and shall content myself with referring to them. I will only show the order one must maintain in the study they wish to make of them, so as to always preserve evidence in one’s perceptions.

The use of the first rule, which concerns particular questions

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I have:

explained the general rule of this method
showed that:
- Descartes followed it quite precisely in his system of the world
- Aristotle and his followers never observed it at all.

What are the particular rules for solving all kinds of questions?

Application of the Other Rules to Particular Questions

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There are 2 sorts of questions:

Simple
Compound

The resolution of the former depends solely on the mind’s attention to the clear ideas of the terms that express them.

The latter can only be resolved by comparison to a third idea or to several other ideas; one cannot discover the unknown relations expressed by the terms of the question by immediately comparing the ideas of those terms, for they cannot be joined or compared.

The Truth

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Final example to demonstrate the utility of this work. In this example, we seek the physical cause of the hardness or the cohesion of the parts of bodies with one another.

Conclusion Of The Last Three Books

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Book 4 and 5 have shown that men’s natural inclinations and passions very often cause them to fall into error, because they lead them not so much to examine things with care as to judge them with precipitation.