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Coming out of an investigation of the fable, where it is shown to hold a crucial pedagogical role both in terms of how the world is to be interpreted and how the self can construct itself, it is now possible to examine what effect this fabular structure has on our understanding of the Cartesian method in general. The traditional understanding of the method is, roughly, an intellectual reduction of the complexities of the way things of the world present themselves to the simple essences of those things, whether they be oneself, god, or a piece of wax. Of the material objects of the world, in their materiality, a reduction to their geometric essences, especially expressed in algebraic notation, is the clearest and most distinct expression of their truths, and will be an expression of eternal truths.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-70238-4_4

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