Quote Of The Day By René Descartes: 'So Blind Is The Curiosity By Which Mortals Are...'

Philosophy wouldn't be what it is today without the work of René Descartes. The famed French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist was born in 1596 in La Haye, Touraine, France. In 1616, he got a degree in law before going to the Netherlands to study military architecture and mathematics. He continued his studies in geometry and algebra while spending nearly a decade traveling in Europe. All of this background of knowledge led Descartes to pen "Rules for the Direction of the Mind" and "Discourse on Method," two texts which outline his math-based method of deductive reasoning.

Descartes' method can be boiled down to four basic rules: doubt everything that doesn't speak for itself, all problems should be divided and conquered, answer the simplest questions before the most complex, and always double-check your findings. One of Descartes' most famous statements is "Cogito, ergo sum," which many of us know better as, "I think, therefore I am." His groundbreaking philosophy gave us many more memorable quotes from Descartes than just that, and one of those important quotes is today's quote of the day.

René Descartes once wrote, "So blind is the curiosity by which mortals are possessed, that they often conduct their minds along unexplored routes, having no reason to hope for success, but merely being willing to risk the experiment of finding whether the truth they seek lies there." This quote comes from Descartes' book "Rules for the Direction of the Mind," which was published posthumously in 1701 after he initially wrote it in 1628. In this book, Descartes outlined his mathematics-based rules for solving problems. This quote illustrates precisely why Descartes believed that his method was so necessary.

Humans have an innate thirst for knowledge. Many of us search for answers without any path or plan of action. Depending on luck to find an answer isn't the best way. Instead, tackling questions in a logical, methodical way can get us where we want to go with much more accuracy and ease. This is a clear explanation of why René Descartes found his method so important. A mathematician at his core, Descartes thought there was a systematic way to tackle any question, and this was the best, most accurate way to find the truth. While he clearly understood the "blind curiosity" he describes in this quote, he also advocated for a scientific approach to learning.

A desire for knowledge is a great thing. Yet, it's important to pursue that knowledge in a way that gets us to the right answer — not simply the fastest answer. Today's world is full of misinformation, AI-generated content, and propaganda. This makes it more important than ever to practice caution and discernment when seeking out knowledge, rather than simply grabbing at the first answer we can find. 

• "I think, therefore I am."
• "Conquer yourself rather than the world."
• "I suppose therefore that all things I see are illusions; I believe that nothing has ever existed of everything my lying memory tells me. I think I have no senses. I believe that body, shape, extension, motion, location are functions. What is there then that can be taken as true? Perhaps only this one thing, that nothing at all is certain."
• "Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power."
• "It is only prudent never to place complete confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived."