Page:Discourse on the method of rightly conducting the reason, and seeking truth in the sciences - Descartes (trans. Veitch).djvu/16

 In this respect, what accomplished in Britain,  accomplished on the Continent.

But, in the third place, it is not enough that the mind be disenthralled, and permitted to go in search of principles in independence of authority; care must be taken that liberty do not degenerate into license. After the Cartesian preliminary, it was possible that the mind might be carried away by the mere pleasure of activity; and, as the degree of activity is higher, and consequently the pleasure, in proportion to the absence of impediment or of rule, the danger of the mental activity setting at nought all limits, or of mind acting without rule, was great. Hence the need of a fixed or regular philosophical procedure as the only guarantee of reaching truth and certainty, hence, in a word, the need of a . This leads us to inquire more particularly into the nature of Method.

III. On this point we have an explicit declaration by himself, which is at once brief and comprehensive. "By Method (he says) I understand rules certain and easy, such as to