2 h 34 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What can you trust when a good education leaves you doubting everything you know?
In Discourse on the Method, René Descartes tells the story of a mind unwilling to settle for uncertain knowledge. His schooling leaves him unsatisfied, so he sets out to rebuild his beliefs on firmer ground. Alone in a room during winter and war, he considers how a clear method might guide his thinking.
Across six parts, Descartes moves from doubt to questions about God, the soul, the body, and nature. He offers four rules for thought and a modest code for living while beliefs remain unsettled. Brief and personal, the book reads more like a letter than a textbook, inviting you to examine how you decide what is true.
What you’ll discover
- An education questioned Follow Descartes as he asks why careful schooling still leaves room for deep uncertainty.
- Four rules for thinking Explore a method that seeks firmer knowledge rather than accepting what seems familiar.
- Living while you doubt Consider a practical code for carrying on while you question the beliefs beneath your choices.
- The search for certainty Watch Descartes test what can be doubted in his search for a first sure truth.
- Knowledge put to use Discover why Descartes sees sharing useful knowledge as a duty, not merely a personal achievement.
Who will love it
For readers curious about where modern philosophy and science begin, and anyone who wants a clear way to test their own beliefs. For those who enjoy personal stories of questioning, reason and self-knowledge.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A good education can leave you doubting
- Four simple rules guide good thinking
- Live by a modest code while you doubt
- Doubt everything and one truth survives
- Nature runs like a machine of parts
- Knowledge should serve and be shared
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 2 h 34 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 9 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works · 60-day guarantee
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, for the whole household.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
60-day money-back guarantee. Love it or get your money back: ask within 60 days of your first payment and we refund it in full.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear Discorso sul metodo in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Discorso sul metodo
by René Descartes · 1637
Descartes questions what he has learned and sets out to rebuild knowledge on firmer ground.
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- The whole household
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free60-day money-back guaranteeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A good education can leave you doubting
Descartes opens with a calm claim. Good sense, he says, is shared out equally among people, since everyone feels they have enough of it. Differences in opinion come not from some having more reason than others, but from using it along different paths. He adds that he offers his book as a picture of his own life, not as a rule that others must follow.
He then describes his schooling at La Flèche, a Jesuit college that he calls one of the best in Europe. He studied languages, old stories, poetry, rhetoric, mathematics, theology and philosophy. He valued some of it. Mathematics pleased him by its certainty and its clear reasoning, though he felt it had only been used for crafts and had not been given a larger purpose.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, for the whole household. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - The whole householdUp to 5 readers
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Discorso sul metodo
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
Can my family read too?
Yes. The whole household reads and listens: up to 5 readers, each with their own shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. And if you have paid, the 60-day money-back guarantee applies: ask within 60 days of your first payment and we refund it in full.
What is Discourse on the Method about?
It is Descartes' account of how he learned to question his old beliefs and build knowledge from a firm base. It gives rules for reasoning, a temporary moral code, a proof of his own existence, and a view of nature.
What does I think, therefore I am mean?
It means that doubting or thinking is itself proof that you exist. Even if everything else could be an illusion, the one who doubts must be real. Descartes takes this as the starting point for his philosophy.
What are Descartes' four rules of method?
Accept only what is clear and distinct. Divide hard problems into small parts. Think in order from the simple to the complex. Review everything so thoroughly that nothing is left out.
The author
René Descartes
1596–1650 · French philosopher and mathematician
René Descartes was a French philosopher and mathematician often called the father of modern philosophy. Discourse on the Method introduced his famous starting point — 'I think, therefore I am' — and a way of doubting everything in search of certain knowledge.
More by René Descartes
All 2 books
More like this
Free
Free
Free
Free
FreeOur mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
Popular in philosophy & ideas
See all
Free
Free
