Will and Method

Though Descartes is widely recognized as the 'father of Modern Philosophy', probably a majority of his successors do not accept his principle 'I think, therefore I am'. Under-appreciated is that that principle is the product of a more fundamental innovation--his making Method an explicit Philosophical topic. Indeed, his true legacy seems to be his 'Methodism', which is pervasive in Rationalism, Empiricism, Criticalism, Dialecticism, Phenomenology, Pragmatism, etc., regardless of the status of 'I think, therefore I am' in a doctrine. Now a method is opposed to haphazard procedure, or, in other words, it supplies otherwise indeterminate Will with structure. Furthermore, since a commitment to a method supersedes any results, Methodism is independent of Teleology. Thus, the Formaterial model of Experience being developed here codifies what has perhaps been the central implicit theme of the post-Cartesian era.