Method for Truth

just as a state is much better governed when it has only a

 few laws that are strictly obeyed than when it has a

great many laws that can provide an excuse for vices,

so I thought that in place of the large number of rules

that make up logic I would findthe following four to

 be sufficient, provided that I made andkept to a

strong resolution always to obey them.

(1) The first was never to accept anything

as true if I didn’t have evident

knowledge of its truth: that is, carefully to avoid jumping

to conclusions and preserving old opinions, and to include

in my judgments only what presented itself to my mind so

vividly and so clearly that I had no basis for calling it in

question.

(2) The second ·was· to divide each of the difficulties I

examined into as many parts as possible and as might be

required in order to resolve them better.

(3) The third ·was· to direct my thoughts in an orderly

manner, by •starting with the simplest and most easily

known objects in order to move up gradually to knowledge

of the most complex, and •by stipulating some order even

among objects that have no natural order of precedence.

(4) And the last ·was· to make all my enumerations so

complete, and my reviews so comprehensive, that I could be

sure that I hadn’t overlooked anything.

Rene Descartes