Descartes' short, revolutionary manifesto in which he resolves to doubt everything that can be doubted and, from that radical scepticism, rebuild knowledge on the single unshakeable foundation of the thinking self — cogito, ergo sum. Written in French for a general audience, the Discourse outlines the four rules of his method, sketches a provisional morality, proves the existence of God and the immortality of the soul, and explains why he delayed publishing his fuller scientific work. Simultaneously a philosophical autobiography and a bold new programme for inquiry, it marks the decisive break from scholasticism and the opening of the modern era in philosophy.
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