“ A man who makes it his aim to raise his knowledge above the common should be ashamed to derive the occasion for doubting from the forms of speech invented by the vulgar ”
René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy (1641). copy citation
| Author | René Descartes |
|---|---|
| Source | Meditations on First Philosophy |
| Topic | speech doubt |
| Date | 1641 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Elizabeth S. Haldane |
| Weblink | http://selfpace.uconn.edu/class/percep/DescartesMeditations.pdf |
Context
“And yet what do I see from the window but hats and coats which may cover automatic machines? Yet I judge these to be men. And similarly solely by the faculty of judgment which rests in my mind, I comprehend that which I believed I saw with my eyes.
A man who makes it his aim to raise his knowledge above the common should be ashamed to derive the occasion for doubting from the forms of speech invented by the vulgar; I prefer to pass on and consider whether I had a more evident and perfect conception of what the wax was when I first perceived it, and when I believed I knew it by means of the external senses or at least by the common sense”
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