Descartes not only invented the method of mechanistic observation but foresaw in 1641 what the cumulative application of that method would accomplish over several hundred years

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• I revere Descartes... he not only invented the method of observation which in effect we have continued to use unchanged for several hundred years, but he also saw clearly what it would bring.quote0.889
  Alexander's generous framing of Descartes before presenting the second method as extension rather than rejection
• Where Descartes only allowed observation to focus on the outer reality of mechanisms in the world, my method requires that we focus on the inner reality of feeling as well.quote0.825
  Core distinction between the two methods stated concisely
• The observations presented throughout these four books are based on a method of observation which is entirely different from the Cartesian method.claim0.776
  Alexander claims his method is a genuine alternative to Cartesian observation.
• The Cartesian method of observation, by forbidding inclusion of the observer's self, systematically excludes awareness of the different degrees of life in spaceclaim0.768
  Alexander's critique of Cartesian epistemology as structurally incapable of perceiving living structure
• The post-Cartesian second method of observation is consistent with and complementary to the Cartesian first method, each suited to different domainsclaim0.763
  Alexander's reconciliation: Cartesian method for machine-like phenomena, wholeness method for relative wholeness judgments
• Cartesian Method of Scientific Observationframework0.747
  The dominant scientific paradigm Alexander seeks to supplement: observation of limited machine-like events from an external, self-excluded standpoint
• Cartesian method of observationmethod0.741
  The method of observing the world as if it were a machine, separating the observer from the observed, leading to mechanistic knowledge.
• Post-Cartesian Method of Observationframework0.740
  The core framework introduced in this chapter: using the observer's experienced inner wholeness as an objective measuring instrument for the degree of life in external systems