Method and Reason

The work of Descartes' that is sometimes glossed as 'Discourse on Method', is, in fact, titled 'Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences'.  Now, the definite article in the title, which implies that several established alternatives are not legitimate in some respect, is open to easy challenge.  But more problematic for Descartes is the conjunction in the title.  For, it implies that Reason only seeks Truth.  However, Method seeks, first and foremost, Efficacy, i. e. that it can be effectively executed.  So, the title implies that any Method, including his own, is Irrational.  But, a Method is not Irrational; rather, it is an expression of Technical Reason, which, perhaps, Descartes might have discovered in a preparatory Discourse on Method.