Descartes Explains It All

3 Pages 826 Words

While I am normally opposed to tedious labor, I found that reading Descartes’ Discourse on Method much less of a chore than I had anticipated. I hesitate to say that I enjoyed it; perhaps it would be best to say that I found it interesting. I was unable to materialize a singular argument encompassing to the entire work. Although, I was able to compose three separate opinions, each pertaining to different parts of the work: there is error with his thoughts about the reason people have; Descartes shares some ground with Richelieu; and the advice Descartes offers is for a much different end than that of Machiavelli of Richelieu.
I immediately find myself in opposition to Descartes as he implies that all people are endowed with the same ability of reason. Being a Darwinist myself, in that I truly believe that some individuals possess an innate advantage over others, I am unable to relate to his assertions. This is partly due to the juxtaposition of Descartes’ optimism as a result of experience and religious devotion and my own juvenile cynicism as a result of inexperience and religious ambiguity.
It could be argued that Descartes addresses my opinions by referring to the different ways people apply their reason. I am skeptical that this is an adequate explanation, though. Individuals have unique ways of interpreting images: some of us have to wear glasses, some of us suffer from a form of colorblindness, while still others are completely blind. In this same way, I am sure that different people have different ways of reasoning things, but that does not mean there are those devoid of such a faculty. Those individuals, in my opinion, are those individuals engaging in chronic self-destructive behaviors (e.g.: chemical dependence, abusive
relationships, crime, etc.).
Descartes goes on to sound much like Richelieu in his Political Testament. Descartes insists that single individuals making laws and designing systems is much ...