The Discourse on the Method is a philosophical and autobiographical treatise published by René Descartes in 1637. Its full name is Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences. It is one of the most influential works in the history of modern philosophy, and important to the evolution of natural sciences. In this book, Descartes tackles the problem of skepticism, which had previously been studied by Sextus Empiricus, Al-Ghazali and Michel de Montaigne. This work is best known as the source of the famous quotation“Je pense, donc je suis”(“I think, therefore I am”), which occurs in Part IV of the work.
《谈谈方法》是笛卡尔写于1637年的重要著作,主要谈及研究问题的四个具体原则:一、未弄清楚之物,不可信以为真。二、除清晰可辨和毫无疑问之物以外,对其他问题概不做任何判断。三、将复杂的问题尽量分解为多个简单的小问题,然后逐一分开来解决。四、将所有问题解决后,再综合起来检验,确保毫无遗漏。该书自诞生以来,启蒙了无数西方人,使三百余年的近代世界历史发生了波澜壮阔的巨大变化。