142 Science Religion and Reality 



Rene Descartes (1596- 1650) was the first in modern times 

 to propound a unitary and effective theory of the universe that 

 became widely current. In the course of his life he made striking 

 contributions both to scientific theory and practice, but these are 

 less important for our purpose than his attitude toward religion and 

 the cosmic theory that he developed. 



In the year 1633 Descartes was about to publish his work which 

 he termed " The World," when he heard of the condemnation 

 of Galileo. He withdrew the book and in the event his first 

 publication was the " Discourse on Method," in 1637. 



From an early date Descartes felt great dissatisfaction with the 

 results of the usual studies of his time. It seemed to him that 

 there was no clear distinction between facts, theories, and tradition. 

 Want of clarity was always abhorrent to him. He attempted to 

 divest himself of every preconceived notion and then to build up 

 his knowledge. With this end in view he tells us in his Discourse 

 that he made certain resolutions : 



[a) " Never to accept anything for true which he did not 

 clearly know to be such, avoiding precipitancy and prejudice and 

 compiising nothing more in his judgement than was absolutely 

 clear and distinct in his mind." 



[b) " To divide each of the difficulties under examination into 

 as many parts as possible." 



[c) " To proceed in his thoughts always from the sl^mplest and 

 easiest to the more complex, assigning in thought a certain order 

 Tsven to those objects which in their own nature do not stand in a 

 relation of antecedence and sequence," i.e., to seek relation every- 

 where. 



[d) " To make enumerations so complete and reviews so 

 general that he might be assured that nothing was omitted." 



He believed that all truth that is ascertainable is so only by the 

 application of these principles and thus applies as much in the sphere 

 of religion as in mathematical or physical matters. In essence, 

 therefore, revealed religion in the ordinary sense is superfluous. For 

 him the fundamental test of truth is the clearness with which we 

 can apprehend it. I think, therefore I am, is the most cleai'ly 

 apprehended of all truths, and therefore personality cannot be an 

 illusion. Similarly, to him the conception of the soul as separate 

 from the body was clear and even obvious ; therefore, he main- 

 tained, it must be true. Moreover, he considered that the mind 



