a personal philosophy

of sorts

he’s so annoying

Somewhere in his writing, probably about math, Descartes says something like this: he could prove a particular statement to you, but his hand is cramping up, and he already explained to you how to figure it out, so you should be able to do it because he’s not any smarter than you and he doesn’t want to write anymore.¹ This statement, or at least this version of it, has stuck in my head for the past ten or so years. It’s a great example of why Descartes is so obnoxious but also he means it. It is not a faux humility. Part of why Descartes is so terrifically arrogant is this sense of his that everybody starts at the same place with the same capacities.²

Actually, I think he says some version of this sentiment a couple other places: I’m not actually smarter than you are, you can do this, you’re not doing it because you’re presumably a little worm that prefers to stew in darkness and I Descartes am a sparkling butterfly flying high above you even though I’m spoonfeeding you t…