Efficiency of Cartesian Method for Voltaire

Cartesian Doubt or in other name Cartesian Skepticism is a form of methodological skepticism which was created by René Descartes in order to associate it with his ideology. As might be expected, Cartesian Skepticism caused a lot of controversy between the philosophers who live in this period. Plenty of them accepted the method and used it in their future observations. However, some of them thought that Descartes is wrong and Cartesian is not an efficient method and it has nothing to do with their ideologies.

Voltaire was one of the philosophers who thought Descartes was wrong. However, it can be said that Voltaire admired him which we can deduce from his words. As he said ‘“Descartes was born with a lively and strong imagination, which made of him a singular man in his private life, as well as in his manner of reasoning; this imagination could not be hidden in his philosophical works, where at every moment we see ingenious and brilliant comparisons; nature had almost made of him a poet...” However, eventhough he said Descartes had a pretty good imagination so that he could be a poet, Voltaire thought he is wrong about everything that he relates to philosophy and science. Moreover, as Voltaire said ‘’ But it is not too much to say that he was worthy of esteem even in his errors: he was wrong, but it was at least with method and a logical spirit.’’ So, eventhough Voltaire thought that Descartes is just wrong about everything that forms his ideology, he also thought that his mistakes are good and necessary for future successes. In general, I think their conflict is similar to the conflict between reality and imagination. For Voltaire, Descartes’ philosophy became nothing more than an ingenious romance after he chose imagination as he described as ‘’the system-making spirit’’ over the reality. Ironically, Descartes was the skeptical one that always in the search of the truth. As he mentioned in the Principles of Philosophy ‘’ If you would be a real seeker after truth,  it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.’’

To conclude, I believe eventhough Voltaire didn’t agree with the ideologies of Descartes, he, at the same time, respected him because he thought the mistakes of Descartes will lead the future philosophers in a good way. So, the Cartesian Method may not be accepted as an efficient way among philosophers, it surely was a decisive step for modern philosophy.