Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy

In the Preface to his Discourse on Method, Descartes provides the reader an outline of the themes and ideas that will be considered in the course of its six chapters. As he writes, Chapter 1 deals with fundamental propositions that concerned the science of his time. Chapter 2 deals with the rules of the method of the proper use of Reason. Chapter 3 extrapolates rules of moral action based on the rules that govern Reason and the method of science. Chapter 4 offers a proof of the existence of God and the human soul, which serve as the foundation for metaphysics, the study of the nature of reality. Chapter 5 deals with and explains the passions and the human body and arrives at a distinction between humans and animals. Chapter 6 outlines the requirements for the future progress of the rational and scientific inquiry into the natural world.

In this chapter, Descartes provides a short autobiography of the time between his childhood and adulthood in order to give the reader a context for how and why he arrived at certain understandings of the nature of Reason, truth, falsity, science, and morality.

Ever since he first began schooling, Descartes enjoyed learning, regardless if the subject matter belonged to the arts, the humanities, or the sciences.