“…it is not enough, before commencing to rebuild the house in which we live, that it be pulled down ..
it is likewise necessary that we be furnished with some other house in which we may live commodiously during the operations…”
René Descartes (1596 – 1650), Discourse on Method)
Descartes boldly set out to question all his beliefs– but didn’t question the need for some “code of Morals,” even though he expected that ultimately he would replace them with new guidelines of his own.
His first principle was to conform to the laws and customs of people around him,
“…adhering firmly to the Faith in which, by the grace of God, I had been educated from my childhood, and regulating my conduct in every other matter according to the most moderate opinions, and the farthest removed from extremes, which should happen to be adopted in practice with general consent of the most judicious of those among whom I might be living…”
This moderate and rational praise for conformity deeply impressed me when I was a teenager learning French. Re-reading it now, I see that I mis-remembered something fairly important. I (mis)remembered that Descartes urged conformity to avoid fruitless arguments with our neighbors, leaving us more time and energy for nobler goals.
I’m glad I cleared that up, though I don’t expect to be tested on Descartes again very soon…