Discourse on Method Contradictions

While reading Descartes’ Discourse on Method, I kept wondering how much Descartes was influenced by the politics of his time. Specifically, how deeply Descartes was affected by the Catholic Church’s influence on scholars. His writing seems to imply some sort of external influence. I say this because he seems to contradict himself at times. At one moment, he is developing his code of morals and says, “The first was to obey the laws and the customs of my country, constantly holding on to the religion in which, by God’s grace, I had been instructed from my childhood, and governing myself in everything else according to the most moderate opinions and those furthest from access – opinions that were commonly accepted in practice by the most judicious of those with whom I would have to live” (56). Here Descartes is saying that everyone must obey the laws and customs of their nation and never question the established order. However, he later says, “I thought it necessary that I do exactly the opposite, and that I reject as absolutely false everything in which I could imagine the least doubt, in order to see whether, after this process, something in my beliefs remained that was entirely indubitable” (60). This comment implies that one should question everything, including social norms and rules. Because of this contradiction, I feel that Descartes must have felt pressure by the Church and state to include details in his essay like the first quote I listed above.