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Meditations on First Philosophy

René Descartes · English text · 22,662 words

Descartes uses six meditations to question inherited beliefs and search for knowledge that can withstand radical doubt, eventually examining the self, God, and the material world.

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Background

This foundational work of early modern philosophy presents argument as a staged process of reflection. This reading text uses William Molyneux’s 1680 English translation, published as Six Metaphysical Meditations.

Reading notes

  • Follow the sequence of doubts rather than treating the first meditation as the conclusion.
  • Distinguish what the meditator knows from what remains under examination.
  • Notice how each meditation answers or revises the previous one.

Version note

English text: Six Metaphysical Meditations, translated by William Molyneux, Project Gutenberg eBook 70091. The supplied anthology extraction was incomplete; this public-domain English edition replaces it.