DISCOURSE ON THE METHOD

...[di]verse opinions concerning the same matter that are supported by learned people, without there ever being more than one that is true, I considered almost as false everything that was only plausible original: "vraisemblable". In 17th-century logic, this refers to something that appears true or likely but lacks the absolute certainty of a mathematical proof..

Then, as for the other sciences, since they borrow their principles from philosophy, I judged that nothing solid could have been built upon such shaky foundations; and neither the honor nor the profit they promise were sufficient to invite me to learn them, for I did not feel myself, thank God, to be in a condition that forced me to make a trade of science for the improvement of my fortune; and, although I did not profess to despise glory like a Cynic A follower of the ancient Greek school of philosophy that advocated for a simple life and often expressed contempt for social status and conventional "glory.", I nevertheless held in very little esteem that which I did not hope to acquire except through false titles; and finally, regarding false doctrines, I thought I already knew enough of what they were worth not to be liable to be deceived either by the promises of an alchemist, the predictions of an astrologer, the deceptions of a magician, or the tricks or boasting of any of those who profess to know more than they actually do.

det This is why, as soon as my age permitted me to leave the control of my tutors, I entirely abandoned the study of letters; and, resolving to seek no other knowledge than that which could be found in myself or else in the great book of the world, I spent the rest of my youth traveling, seeing courts and armies, x frequenting people of various temperaments and conditions, gathering diverse experiences, testing myself in the encounters that fortune offered me, and everywhere reflecting on the things that presented themselves so that I might derive some profit from them. For it seemed to me that I might encounter much more truth in the reasonings that each person makes concerning the affairs that matter to them, and whose outcome will soon punish them if they have judged poorly, than in those made by a man of letters in his study regarding speculations that produce no effect and which have no other consequence for him except that X perhaps he will derive all the more vanity from them as they are further removed from common sense, because he will have had to employ all the more wit and artifice in trying to make them seem plausible; and I always had an extreme desire to learn to distinguish the true from the false in order to see clearly in my actions and to walk with confidence in this life.

It is true that, while I did nothing but consider the customs of other men, I found little there to reassure me, and I noticed almost as much diversity there as I had previously found among the opinions of...