Meditations and Other Metaphysical Writings

The author was prepared to go to any lengths in his search for certainty - even to deny those things that seemed most self-evident. In this book, he developed a language of subjectivity that has lasted, and he also took his first steps towards the view that would eventually be expressed in epigram "Cogito, ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am").

Rene Descartes (1596-1650), French philosopher and mathematician, is generally regarded as the founder of modern philosophy. Desmond Clarke is professor of philosophy at Unviersity College, Cork.