xivj ON DESCARTES' " DISCOURSE." 323 



science consecrated Doul)t. It removed Doubt from the 

 seat of penance among the grievous sins to which it had 

 long been condemned, and enthroned it in that high place 

 among the primary duties, which is assigned to it by the 

 scientific conscience of these latter days. Descartes was 

 the first among the moderns to obey this commandment 

 deliberately ; and, as a matter of religious duty, to strip 

 off all his beliefs and reduce himself to a state of intel- 

 lectual nakedness, until such time as he could satisfy 

 himself which were fit to be worn. He thought a bare 

 skin healthier than the most respectable and well-cut 

 clothing of what might, possibly, be mere shoddy. 



When I say that Descartes consecrated doubt, you must 

 remember that it was that sort of doubt which Goethe 

 has called "the active scepticism, whose whole aim is to 

 conquer itself ; " * and not that other sort which is born 

 of flippancy and ignorance, and- whose aim is only to 

 perpetuate itself, as an excuse for idleness and indiffer- 

 ence. But it is impossible to define what is meant by 

 scientific doubt better than in Descartes' own words. 

 After describing the gradual progress of his negative 

 criticism, he tells us : — 



" For all that, I did not imitate the sceptics, who doubt only for 

 doubting's sake, and pretend to be always undecided; on the contrary, 

 my whole intention was to arrive at certainty, and to dig away the 

 drift and the sand until I reached the rock or the clay beneath." 



And further, since no man of common sense, when 

 he pulls down his house for the purpose of rebuilding it, 

 fails to provide himself with some shelter while the work 

 is in progress ; so, before demolishing the spacious, if not 

 commodious, mansion of his old beliefs, Descartes thought 

 it wise to equip himself with what he calls " unc morale 

 par provision" by which he resolved to govern his 



1 " Eine thatige Skepsis ist die, wclche unablassig bemiiht ist sich selbsfc 

 zn iiberwinden, unci durch geregelte Erfahrung ?x\ einer Art von bedingtcr 

 Zuverliissigkeit z\\ gelangcn." — Maximen unci Ileflexionen, 7 te Abtheilung. 



