In this video I will discuss Part 3 of Descartes’ Discourse on Method.
At the end of the video I will give you a few questions to reflect on and discuss.
Descartes begins Part 3 by noting that his plan to reform all his opinions in search
of truth and certainty requires something he has not yet introduced.
Just as when rebuilding a house, you need someplace else to stay during the renovation,
he needs a set of beliefs to live by while he is doing his mental reform work.
In the first half of Part 3 he gives the three maxims of this Provisional Moral Code.
This is his temporary philosophy of life, to govern himself by until he completes the
project of creating a new permanent philosophy.
The first maxim is to obey the laws and customs of his native country, and to hold fast to
the truths of the Catholic faith he was raised in.
He will follow the opinions of sensible people, and on any question prefer the moderate path
to either of the extremes.
This of course is another element of Montaigne’s thought that Descartes borrows here.
We might find it odd, given how he just resolved not to believe anything too firmly on the
basis of custom alone.
But we should remember that this is his provisional moral code, justified mainly by the necessities
of living and acting while pursing his deeper project.
We might expect these rules to be more practical than principled.
And Descartes appeals to practical grounds in justifying this rule: French Catholics
are the people he will be living among while working on his project.
He might find a wiser man in China or Persia, but their wisdom would not suit the needs
of his daily life.
Descartes makes two important points in justifying this first maxim.
First, he says he will determine the opinions of sensible people by observing their actions
rather than by listening to their words.
He uses this opportunity to throw some further doubt on the pronouncements of the wise.
Second, he reasons that on any question, the moderate answer is more likely to be true,
or at least likely to be less wrong, than either of the extremes.
Even for a provisional guideline, this seems like a highly contestable conclusion.
Perhaps we will discuss it later.
The second maxim of the provisional moral code is to be firm and resolute in my actions,
treating even doubtful conclusions as certain once I have decided to act upon them.
This does not mean acting arbitrarily or dogmatically, though.
It means that once I have moved from deliberation to action, I should treat all my decisions
as equally final, and act on them with equal confidence.
In this way I avoid acting in a half-hearted or self-undermining fashion.
Descartes compares his situation to that of a traveler lost in the woods.
Even if his reasons for picking one direction to walk in are weak reasons, he ought to stick
with that direction and keep walking straight.
He is much more likely to return to civilization that way, than if he second guesses himself
and changes course frequently.
So Descartes emphasizes that for purposes of action, after I make a decision I should
abandon lingering doubts and act with firm resolution.
The third maxim is to conquer myself rather than trying to conquer fortune.
This is a standard stoic idea, and Descartes calls it the surest path to contentment.
But he gives it a particularly Cartesian expression: I should remember that nothing is wholly within
my power, except my thoughts.
By treating all external things as impossible, I will maintain focus on what I can control:
my mind, my beliefs and judgments.
Descartes then says he made a review of all human occupations, to determine which was
the best for him to pursue.
Without telling us more about this review, he says he concluded that he was best off
following the path he had taken up till now: cultivating his reason and gaining wisdom
by slow degrees.
I think the suggestion here is that he judged all other occupations to be inferior to this
philosophical one.
Descartes gives three reasons why this path is best for him.
First, the immense satisfaction he finds in applying his method and gaining new knowledge
by it.
Second, it continues the path of self-instruction he set for himself at the beginning.
Rather than accepting the opinions of others, he will use his God-given natural light of
reason to continually improve his opinions and draw closer to the truth.
Third, this is the path to acquiring all the knowledge of which his mind is capable.
After the provisional moral code, the second half of Part 3 discusses its implications
and results.
Descartes resolved that, apart from the three maxims of the provisional moral code, and
the truths of the Catholic faith, he would set aside all his other opinions.
He leaves his stove-heated room to travel Europe for nine years, always observing and
reflecting on his experiences.
He continues to purify his mind, recognizing and correcting errors that had escaped earlier
notice.
This, he says, was not doubt for doubt’s sake, like the philosophical skeptics, but
rather doubting to find a firmer foundation, solid rock instead of shifting sands.
In this process he found that he could learn something true and certain even from opinions
he rejected as false.
He uses an important metaphor here: just as when demolishing a house, you would save the
pieces, the bricks and two by fours, to use in rebuilding, he will save the beliefs he
rejects at this stage of his reform project.
He might find a use for them later, when reconstructing his worldview and building a permanent philosophy
of life.
By this process of travel, observation, and reflection, Descartes tells us, he learned
more than he would have learned just reading books and talking with professors in Paris.
So Descartes spent nine years (1619-1628) travelling and gaining experiences, but had
not yet formed any new foundational beliefs.
He might have continued longer, except a rumor spread that he had in fact created a new philosophy.
This was not by his boasting of any wisdom, he insists.
But maybe it was “because I admitted what I did not know more ingeniously than do those
who have studied only a little.”
We can see another note of Socratic-ironic humility here.
To try to be worthy of the respect this rumor showed for him, he broke off his travels and
settled in the Dutch Republic to live a solitary thinker’s life.
This was eight years ago, 1628-1637, the year the Discourse was published.
That brings us to the end of Part 3 of the Discourse on Method.
I will leave you with three questions for reflection and discussion.
First, how is Descartes’ provisional moral code different from Montaigne’s philosophy
of life?
Second, can I live by an unquestioned moral code, while also examining all my other beliefs,
down to their foundations?
Or will my practical living affect or sabotage my deeper intellectual project?
Can I bracket the practical from the speculative like this?
Combined with the first question: Can Descartes be only a temporary Montaignian skeptic?
Third, does Descartes undermine custom, morality, and faith by treating them here as arbitrary
and only justified by practical necessity?
If so, could this be intentional?
That’s all for this video.
Thanks for watching today; goodbye.