Editing Discourse on the Method (section)

==Influencing future science==
Skepticism had previously been discussed by philosophers such as [[Sextus Empiricus]], [[Al-Kindi]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Prioreschi |first1=Plinio |title=Al-Kindi, A Precursor of the Scientific Revolution |journal=Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine |date=2002 |issue=2 |pages=17–20 |url=http://www.ishim.net/ishimj/2/03.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630203419/http://www.ishim.net/ishimj/2/03.pdf |archive-date=30 June 2021 |access-date=19 July 2021}}</ref> [[Al-Ghazali]],<ref name=Najm>{{Cite journal|title=The Place and Function of Doubt in the Philosophies of Descartes and Al-Ghazali|first=Sami M.|last=Najm|journal=Philosophy East and West|volume=16|issue=3–4|date=July–October 1966|pages=133–141|doi=10.2307/1397536|jstor=1397536}}</ref> [[Francisco Sanches|Francisco Sánchez]] and [[Michel de Montaigne]]. Descartes started his line of reasoning by doubting everything, so as to assess the world from a fresh perspective, clear of any preconceived notions or influences.
This is summarized in the book's first precept to "never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such". This method of pro-foundational skepticism is considered to be the start of modern philosophy.<ref>''[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-works/ Descartes' Life and Works]'' by Kurt Smith, ''[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]''. Retrieved 2017-11-20</ref><ref>''[http://www.iep.utm.edu/descarte/ Descartes, Rene]'' by Justin Skirry (Nebraska-Wesleyan University), ''[[The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]'', ISSN 2161-0002. Retrieved 2017-11-20</ref>