Excerpt from Spinoza, Descartes and Maimonides The Discourse on Method commences with an account of Descartes' search for truth. From the fact that although good sense is common to all, yet opinions on every impor tant question are different, he concluded that the existence of these differences, apparent particularly between and within the various systems of philosophy, must be due to faults in method. Even in the sphere which commanded most agreement and where demonstration had been achieved, that of mathematics, the methods commonly employed were too confused and fatiguing to be taken as a model. It was necessary, therefore, first to disengage the essential procedure of the purest types of mathematics, and then to take over the result for application to all the sc1ences alike. The characteristics of the logic so achieved might be expected to be the same as those of geometry and algebra - simplicity of premiss; universality of application; and inevitableness of conclusion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.