22 JAN 2014 by ideonexus

 Descartes Rules

I thought the following four [rules] would be enough, provided that I made a firm and constant resolution not to fail even once in the observance of them. The first was never to accept anything as true if I had not evident knowledge of its being so; that is, carefully to avoid precipitancy and prejudice, and to embrace in my judgment only what presented itself to my mind SO cleariy and distinctly that I had no occasion to doubt it. The second, to divide each problem I examined into as many ...
  1  notes

The basis for empiricism, even if he abandons them in his own arguments.

02 FEB 2012 by ideonexus

 The Scientist Knows the God of Newton

The scientist who recognizes God knows only the God of Newton. To him the God imagined by Laplace and Comte is wholly inadequate. He feels that God is in nature, that the orderly ways in which nature works are themselves the manifestations of God's will and purpose. Its laws are his orderly way of working.
  1  notes

A god who is in nature.