Bio 100 annotated text of Discourse on method

Preface
first, will be found various considerations touching the Sciences
second, the principal rules of the Method which the Author has discovered,
third, certain of the rules of Morals which he has deduced from this Method;
fourth, the reasonings by which he establishes the existence of God and of the Human Soul,
fifth, the order of the Physical questions which he has investigated,
sixth, what the Author believes to be required in order to greater advancement in the investigation of Nature than has yet been made,

Chapter 1
Good sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed;
the power of judging aright and of distinguishing truth from error... is by nature equal in all men;
diversity of our opinion not because larger share of reason than other
diversity of our opinion we conduct our thoughts along different ways
fallen in with certain tracks which have conducted me to considerations excellent and important, it is that which I have chosen.
solely to describe the way in which I have endeavored to conduct my own
childhood, I have been familiar with letters; and as I was given to believe that by their help a clear and certain knowledge of all that is useful in life might be acquired, I was ardently desirous of instruction.
I believed that I had already given sufficient time to languages
On the other hand, when too much time is occupied in traveling, we become strangers to our native country; and the over curious in the customs of the past are generally ignorant of those of the present.
I was especially delighted with the mathematics, on account of the certitude and evidence of their reasonings; but I had not as yet a precise knowledge of their true use;
I revered our theology, and aspired as much as any one to reach heaven: but being given assuredly to understand that the way is not less open to the most ignorant than to the most learned,I did not presume to subject them to the impotency of my reason;
Of philosophy I will say nothing,

Chapter 2
single architect more elegant
old walls serve for purposes for which they were not originally built
nations starting from a semi-barbarous state and advancing to civilization
true religion, the ordinances of which are derived from God, must be incomparably superior to that of every other.
I farther concluded that it is almost impossible that our judgments can be so correct or solid as they would have been, had our reason been mature from the moment of our birth, and had we always been guided by it alone.
pull down houses to rebuilding them differently
start thoughts totaly a new the fall of such is always disastrous.
first: more than a due confidence in their own powers
second: modesty to determine that there are others who excel them in the power of discriminating between truth and error
speaking w/o judgment when we are ignorant, than in the investigation of the unknown
first: never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such;
second: divide difficulties under examination into parts to solve
third: conduct thoughts simplest and easiest to know,by little by little,
fourth: complete/general, that I might be assured that nothing was omitted.
I found nothing certain

Chapter 3
Morals to conduct thoughts
first: obey/laws and customs of my country (educated from childhood)
regulate practice to opinions of i live w/
there are few disposed to speak exactly as they believe
many are not aware of what it is that they really believe
second: firm and resolute in my actions as I was able
not to wander from side to side
not stay in one place, but proceed constantly towards the same side in
no delay is permissible
third: to conquer myself rather than fortune
change my desires rather than the order of the world
except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power
consider external beyond power, no more regret the absence of exteranl things
fourth: review different occupations of men how to make best choice
w/o wishing to offer any remarks on the employments of others
daily discovered truths of which other men were generally ignorant
the reasons that led me to doubt of many of those things that by others are esteemed certain
Chapter 4
first meditations: it is sometimes necessary to adopt, as if above doubt,
some men err in reasoning: rejected as false all the reasonings
whilst I think all was false,suppose that I had no body, no world nor any place in which I might be; I was not;
I was a substance whose whole essence or nature consists only in thinking, and which, that it may exist, has need of no place, nor is dependent on any material thing; so that " I," that is to say, the mind by which I am what I am, is wholly distinct from the body,
I see very clearly that in order to think it is necessary to exist,
the nature of God, or other natures that were not wholly perfect, their existence depended on his power in such a way that they could not subsist without him for a single moment.
triangle,is at least as certain that God, who is this Perfect Being, is, or exists, as any demonstration of geometry can be.
senses must prove God and of the soul, but: in order to hear sounds or smell odors, they strove to avail themselves of their eyes; unless indeed that there is this difference, that the sense of sight does not afford us an inferior assurance to those of smell or hearing; in place of which, neither our imagination nor our senses God sent dreams because our reasonings are never so clear or so complete during sleep as when we are awake,

Chapter 5
I found means to satisfy myself in a short time on all the principal difficulties which are usually treated of in philosophy, but I have also observed certain laws established in nature by God in such a manner, it appears to me that I have discovered many truths more useful and more important than all I had before learned, or even had expected to learn.
light; if God were now to create somewhere in the imaginary spaces matter sufficient to compose one,clearer and more intelligible,
light in the sun and the stars also produce light
God formed the body of man wholly like to one of ours: beyond kindling in the heart one of those fires without light,God to have created a rational soul,
reason is an universal instrument that is alike available on every occasion, these organs, on the contrary,
little is required to enable a person to speak; nor must it be thought with certain of the ancients, that the brutes speak, although we do not understand their language. For if such were the case, since they are endowed with many organs analogous to ours, they could as easily communicate their thoughts to us as to their fellows.

Chapter 6
I perceived it to be possible to arrive at knowledge highly useful in life;
we might be enabled to enjoy without any trouble the fruits of the earth,\science of medicine: now contains few things remarkable: but it has potential; I designed to employ my whole life in the search after so necessary a science,
I want to conduct experiments
order: first, I have essayed to find in general the principles,
second I study particular, it to be impossible for the human mind to distinguish the forms or species unless we rise to causes through their effects,experiments.
principles had discovered.
neither my hands nor my income, though it were a thousand times larger than it is, would be sufficient for them all;
change my opinion, and to think that I ought indeed to go on committing to writing all the results which I deemed of any moment,
habit: seeking first what is easy, and then passing onward slowly and step by step to the more difficult, will benefit them more than all my instructions.
one man is not equal to the task of making them all
curiosity=desire of learning, of their own accord, find other's ill described, or even false
two reasons to give public some account of my doings
first; if I failed to do so,people imagine the reasons a don't are poor
in this way readers seeing both at once will more easily determine where the truth lies;
"Dioptrics"/"Meteorics" should offend because I call them hypotheses
I want to prevent a certain class of minds from building some extravagant philosophy upon what they may take to be my principles, and my being blamed for it.
nor boast of being the earliest discoverer of any of them, but adopted them
And if I write in French, which is the language of my country, in preference to Latin, which is that of my preceptors, it is because I expect that those who make use of their unprejudiced natural reason will be better judges of my opinions than those who give heed to the writings of the ancients only;