Hi, I'm Peter Adamson and you're listening to the History of Philosophy podcast, brought to you with the support of the philosophy department at King's College London and the LMU in Munich, online at historyof philosophy.net.

Today's episode, Well Hidden, De Katt's Life and Works.

René Descartes was his own first biographer.

In his short work Discourse on the Method, published in 1637, he looks back on his

development from youth to maturity. You shouldn't turn to this book looking for juicy anecdotes,

reminiscences of lost love, or even a mention of the author's father, mother, or daughter.

If it's a life story, then it's the story of a life of the mind. Indeed, it's just

the kind of autobiography you might expect from someone who, say, thinks of themselves as a

disembodied intellect with an obscure connection to a body that is something like a machine,

someone that is like René Descartes, who from now on I'm just going to call Descartes,

which will be less annoying for both you and me.

The pivotal moment in his own version of his story comes when he resolves to abandon all received opinions.

Reasoning that majority vote has never been a guarantee of truth,

and that a single man could make discoveries that large groups

might not, Descartes determines to be that man. He will develop his philosophy by depending,

not on authoritative tradition, but on principles whose truth is completely evident. That sound

you hear is the starting gun for early modern philosophy being fired.

The sparks would ignite a flame of enlightenment that would spread across Europe,

whose burning embers were the fuel for Kant's essay on enlightenment,

with its emphasis on thinking for yourself.

Or at least that's the usual story.

But we probably shouldn't take Descartes' word for any of this,

...