Meditations on First Philosophy

The translation of the Meditations is taken from three sources: the second Latin edition of 1642, which was the first one printed from Descartes' own manuscript and under his own supervision, the first French translation of 1646 by Duc de Luynes, but read and approved by Descartes, and the second French translation by Clerselier. An attempt has been made in this translation to integrate these three versions into one complete and accurate edition by the use of brackets and parentheses. The reader may, by omitting the parentheses and brackets, have a translation which contains all ideas in the three versions. By omitting bracketed material, he will have a translation essentially that of the original Latin, and by omitting material in parentheses, that of the First French edition.