Having thus provided myself with these maxims,and having placed them in reserve along with the truths of faith,which have ever occupied the first place in my belief,I came to the conclusion that I might with freedom set about ridding myself of what remained of my opinions.And,inasmuch as I hoped to be better able successfully to accomplish this work by holding intercourse with mankind,than by remaining longer shut up in the retirement where these thoughts had occurred to me,I betook me again to traveling before the winter was well ended.And,during the nine subsequent years,I did nothing but roam from one place to another,desirous of being a spectator rather than an actor in the plays exhibited on the theater of the world;and,as I made it my business in each matter to reflect particularly upon what might fairly be doubted and prove a source of error,I gradually rooted out from my mind all the errors which had hitherto crept into it.Not that in this I imitated the sceptics who doubt only that they may doubt,and seek nothing beyond uncertainty itself;for,on the contrary,my design was singly to find ground of assurance,and cast aside the loose earth and sand,that I might reach the rock or the clay.In this,as appears to me,I was successful enough;for,since I endeavored to discover the falsehood or incertitude of the propositions I examined,not by feeble conjectures,but by clear and certain reasonings,I met with nothing so doubtful as not to yield some conclusion of adequate certainty,although this were merely the inference,that the matter in question contained nothing certain.And,just as in pulling down an old house,we usually reserve the ruins to contribute towards the erection,so,in destroying such of my opinions as I judged to be Ill-founded,I made a variety of observations and acquired an amount of experience of which I availed myself in the establishment of more certain.
And further,I continued to exercise myself in the method I had prescribed;for,besides taking care in general to conduct all my thoughts according to its rules,I reserved some hours from time to time which Iexpressly devoted to the employment of the method in the solution of mathematical difficulties,or even in the solution likewise of some questions belonging to other sciences,but which,by my having detached them from such principles of these sciences as were of inadequate certainty,were rendered almost mathematical:the truth of this will be manifest from the numerous examples contained in this volume.And thus,without in appearance living otherwise than those who,with no other occupation than that of spending their lives agreeably and innocently,study to sever pleasure from vice,and who,that they may enjoy their leisure without ennui,have recourse to such pursuits as are honorable,Iwas nevertheless prosecuting my design,and making greater progress in the knowledge of truth,than I might,perhaps,have made had I been engaged in the perusal of books merely,or in holding converse with men of letters.
These nine years passed away,however,before I had come to any determinate judgment respecting the difficulties which form matter of dispute among the learned,or had commenced to seek the principles of any philosophy more certain than the vulgar.And the examples of many men of the highest genius,who had,in former times,engaged in this inquiry,but,as appeared to me,without success,led me to imagine it to be a work of so much difficulty,that I would not perhaps have ventured on it so soon had I not heard it currently rumored that I had already completed the inquiry.I know not what were the grounds of this opinion;and,if my conversation contributed in any measure to its rise,this must have happened rather from my having confessed my Ignorance with greater freedom than those are accustomed to do who have studied a little,and expounded perhaps,the reasons that led me to doubt of many of those things that by others are esteemed certain,than from my having boasted of any system of philosophy.But,as I am of a disposition that makes me unwilling to be esteemed different from what I really am,I thought it necessary to endeavor by all means to render myself worthy of the reputation accorded to me;and it is now exactly eight years since this desire constrained me to remove from all those places where interruption from any of my acquaintances was possible,and betake myself to this country,in which the long duration of the war has led to the establishment of such discipline,that the armies maintained seem to be of use only in enabling the inhabitants to enjoy more securely the blessings of peace and where,in the midst of a great crowd actively engaged in business,and more careful of their own affairs than curious about those of others,I have been enabled to live without being deprived of any of the conveniences to be had in the most populous cities,and yet as solitary and as retired as in the midst of the most remote deserts.
