For they
made me see that it is possible to achieve knowledge which would be very useful
for life and that, in place of the speculative philosophy that is taught in the
Schools, it is possible to find a practical philosophy by which, knowing the
forces of actions of fire, water, air, the stars, the heavens and all the other
bodies that surround us, as distinctly as we know the various crafts of our artisans,
we should be able to use them in the same way for all the applications for
which they are appropriate, and thereby make ourselves, as it were, the lords
and masters of nature.[1]
Descartes, Discourse on Method (1637).
[1] René Descartes, Discourse on Method and Related Writings,
tr. Desmond M. Clarke (Toronto: Penguin, 1999), p. 44. [Part 6].
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