
60 Inverting the Paradox of Excellence
doubt, assumed truths about the world as it was experienced were declared as possibly being untrust-
worthy; only the act of thinking itself was considered to be clear and distinct and, therefore, certain.
Hence, rational thinking as a method of obtaining knowledge gained its primacy. Fundamental
truths about the world could thus be discovered through processes of rational thought.
The views expressed by Descartes clearly manifest themselves in the four modes of think-
ing. Reductionism holds that complex wholes can only be understood through knowledge of—
simpler—constituent aspects or elements. Conversely ...