Fable in the world and the discourse

pp. 11-45

in: James Griffith, Fable, method, and imagination in Descartes, Berlin, Springer, 2018

Abstract

The question of how to begin, how to inaugurate a new form, style, or path of thinking opened Descartes onto the fable. Because so much concerning his metaphysical and epistemological claims hinge on methodological problems in the very inauguration of the how and why of what is learned, a defense of his new form or style of thinking cannot itself develop through that methodology. As a result, Descartes deviates from the course of thinking not precisely by defending his new form, style, or path, but by setting it to work it such that it may defend itself in its operation. This change in course occurs through Descartes' telling us that a given text is a fable, a literary form associated with pedagogical goals.