Regulae Ad Directionem IngeniiExactly four hundred years after the birth of René Descartes (1596-1650), the present volume now makes available, for the first time in a bilingual, philosophical edition prepared especially for English-speaking readers, his Regulae ad directionem ingenii / Rules for the Direction of the Natural Intelligence (1619-1628), the Cartesian treatise on method. This unique edition contains an improved version of the original Latin text, a new English translation intended to be as literal as possible and as liberal as necessary, an interpretive essay contextualizing the text historically, philologically, and philosophically, a com-prehensive index of Latin terms, a key glossary of English equivalents, and an extensive bibliography covering all aspects of Descartes' methodology. Stephen Gaukroger has shown, in his authoritative Descartes: An Intellectual Biography (1995), that one cannot understand Descartes without understanding the early Descartes. But one also cannot understand the early Descartes without understanding the Regulae / Rules. Nor can one understand the Regulae / Rules without understanding a philosophical edition thereof. Therein lies the justification for this project. The edition is intended, not only for students and teachers of philosophy as well as of related disciplines such as literary and cultural criticism, but also for anyone interested in seriously reflecting on the nature, expression, and exercise of human intelligence: What is it? How does it manifest itself? How does it function? How can one make the most of what one has of it? Is it equally distributed in all human beings? What is natural about it, and what, not? In the Regulae / Rules Descartes tries to provide, from a distinctively early modern perspective, answers both to these and to many other questions about what he refers to as ingenium. |
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Page 8
... less , it is also known that Descartes felt that from the Chandoux Conference he had received 47 Cf. AT , XII , 95–98 . 48 Of whom see more below . 49 Cf. , e.g. , Letter to Villebressieu , Summer , 1631 ( AT , I , 215 ) . 50 Cf ...
... less , it is also known that Descartes felt that from the Chandoux Conference he had received 47 Cf. AT , XII , 95–98 . 48 Of whom see more below . 49 Cf. , e.g. , Letter to Villebressieu , Summer , 1631 ( AT , I , 215 ) . 50 Cf ...
Page 10
... less , the narratively retrospective character of Part Four of the Dis- course does constitute vivid evidence against the understanding according to which Descartes was not at all concerned with skepticism before 1630 or according to ...
... less , the narratively retrospective character of Part Four of the Dis- course does constitute vivid evidence against the understanding according to which Descartes was not at all concerned with skepticism before 1630 or according to ...
Page 13
... less , there are sev- eral crucial letters dating from this period which can provide insight into the nature of the research in which Descartes was engaged immediately after having interrupted the work on the Regulæ . For these letters ...
... less , there are sev- eral crucial letters dating from this period which can provide insight into the nature of the research in which Descartes was engaged immediately after having interrupted the work on the Regulæ . For these letters ...
Page 14
... less familiarly known by his subjects , provided , of course , that they do not think , due to this lack of familiarity , that they are without a king , and that they know him well enough to be in no doubt about this . One will tell you ...
... less familiarly known by his subjects , provided , of course , that they do not think , due to this lack of familiarity , that they are without a king , and that they know him well enough to be in no doubt about this . One will tell you ...
Page 15
... less than , and subject to , this incomprehensible power . Concisely and precisely : Truths are true because God wills them to be ; God does not recognize them to be true because they are . " 2 Indeed , the metaphysical truth that God ...
... less than , and subject to , this incomprehensible power . Concisely and precisely : Truths are true because God wills them to be ; God does not recognize them to be true because they are . " 2 Indeed , the metaphysical truth that God ...
Contents
13 | |
19 | |
The Regula and the Principles 1644 | 27 |
Manuscripts Editions Translations of the Regula | 47 |
De scientia et cognitione | 70 |
De intuitione et deductione | 76 |
De methodo mathematica et mathesi universali | 84 |
De ordine et dispositione rerum | 98 |
De enumeratione sive inductione | 106 |
De limitibus rationis humanae | 112 |
99 | 118 |
De capacitate illationis | 134 |
De quaestionibus perfecte intellectis | 166 |
De repraesentatione et sensibus | 194 |
De desideratis | 216 |
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Common terms and phrases
adeo Adrien Baillet aëre alia aliis aliqua aliquid aliud Aristotle atque autem cetera cognitionem deduction denique Descartes directionem ingenii Discourse distinct distinctly eadem edition enim eodem etiam etiamsi Étienne Gilson evidence figures geometry haec hanc human ibid illa illam illis illorum illud intellect inter inter se intuition ipsis knowledge lacuna Latin Leibniz Letter to Mersenne Logista magis magnitudes mathematics mathesis universalis means Meditations memory metaphysical method Missing in H modo natural intelligence nempe neque nihil nisi nobis omnes omnia omnibus omnium passim philosophy posse possit potest Premiss propositions quae quam quas question quia quibus quid quidem quod quomodo ratione reason Regula Regulæ ad directionem René Descartes rerum revera rule saepe sense Sextus Empiricus simul singula sint sive sunt tamen tantum things tion treatise truth tunc understand unquam vero