Discourse on the Method and Meditations on First Philosophy

Discourse on the Method is one of the most influential works in modern philosophy and played a significant role in the development of the natural sciences. Meditations on First Philosophy, first published in 1641, is a philosophical treatise by René Descartes consisting of six meditations. In this work, Descartes begins by rejecting every belief that is not completely certain, then seeks to determine what can be known with absolute certainty. He presents the meditations as though they were written over six consecutive days, with each meditation referring to the previous one as having taken place "yesterday." In reality, Descartes started writing the Meditations in 1639. Regarded as one of the most influential philosophical works ever written, it continues to be widely studied and read today.