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Descartes’s Discours de la méthode (1637), Part V, says that a machine could be made to utter words, even words suited to actions on its body, but not to arrange them to answer the sense of whatever is said in its presence, and that a machine doing some things as well as people would fail in others; by these two means machines could always be told from people. Copy claim link
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Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source; Context: primary · 1 source
Date 1637 · publication Records dated 1637 → Role Context Register (kind of text) Nonfiction Missing element A claim that apparent capability or understanding shown in a test is weak or misleading evidence. Descartes proposes two tests and holds them reliable for telling machines from people; that some performances would not show knowledge is said of performances, not of evidence from a test. Scope and limits Context. A second check by a model of another family read the passage as meeting C1 for narrower probes (a machine’s words in response, or some tasks done as well as people, would not show knowledge) and would have it head C1; the maintainer decided on 2026-11-04 that Jefferson (1949) heads C1 and that this passage is context, and C1’s criterion now says that a text holding a behavioural test reliable does not meet it. Spelling as printed, long s as s.
The evidence 02 primary source Supports the claim
Discours de la methode (Leiden: Ian Maire, 1637), pp. 56–57 ↗ Bibliothèque nationale de France copy (Gallica), page images as reproduced on Wikimedia Commons · 1637 · In French (fr)
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Source excerpt “qu'vne machine soit tellement faite qu'elle profere des paroles […] Mais non pas qu'elle les arrange diuersement, pour respondre au sens de tout ce qui se dira en sa presence” Location in source Part V, p. 57 (djvu page 61), the first means
How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher
Machine-checked · 2026-11-04
Source details and check notes Authors Published without the author’s name (René Descartes) Version Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-11-03 (SHA-256 c8f2025f7dfc158ce2c0984b37f55eb561d51d35d9abc713b0235ca05cdc8c05). Title page (djvu page 5): ‘A Leyde, De l’Imprimerie de Ian Maire. CIƆ IƆ C XXXVII.’ Part V, printed pp. 56–57 (djvu pages 60–61); p. 58 (page 62) was retrieved and not quoted. Page hashes: p. 5 2e39c861…, p. 56 64af068c…, p. 57 c8f2025f…, p. 58 41f986ab…. The images are evidence; no Wikipedia article is. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-11-03 Language French (fr) Attribution Published without the author’s name (René Descartes), “Discours de la methode (Leiden: Ian Maire, 1637), pp. 56–57”, 1637. Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Candidate pack passage, antecedent texts (research/prehistory). Read on the page image for the candidate pack; it could not be matched mechanically. Page images without a text layer (djvu pages 5, 60, 61 and 62 at 960 px; the hash given is page 61, printed p. 57); quotations transcribed from the images on 2026-11-03. Long s is transcribed as s; u and v, accents, spelling and ‘&’ as printed. The four images have the same SHA-256 values as the copies a second check by a model of another family read. The omitted words give the examples of a machine asking what is wanted when touched in one place and crying out that it is hurt in another. No human editorial review. primary source Context only
Discours de la methode (Leiden: Ian Maire, 1637), pp. 56–57 ↗ Bibliothèque nationale de France copy (Gallica), page images as reproduced on Wikimedia Commons · 1637 · In French (fr)
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Source excerpt “s'il y en auoit qui eussent la ressemblance de nos cors, & imitassent autant nos actions que moralement il seroit possible, nous aurions tousiours deux moyens tres certains, pour reconnoistre qu'elles ne seroient point pour cela de vrais hommes.” Location in source Part V, pp. 56–57 (djvu pages 60–61), sentence beginning “Au lieu que s'il y en auoit”
How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher
Machine-checked · 2026-11-04
Source details and check notes Authors Published without the author’s name (René Descartes) Version Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-11-03 (SHA-256 c8f2025f7dfc158ce2c0984b37f55eb561d51d35d9abc713b0235ca05cdc8c05). Title page (djvu page 5): ‘A Leyde, De l’Imprimerie de Ian Maire. CIƆ IƆ C XXXVII.’ Part V, printed pp. 56–57 (djvu pages 60–61); p. 58 (page 62) was retrieved and not quoted. Page hashes: p. 5 2e39c861…, p. 56 64af068c…, p. 57 c8f2025f…, p. 58 41f986ab…. The images are evidence; no Wikipedia article is. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-11-03 Language French (fr) Attribution Published without the author’s name (René Descartes), “Discours de la methode (Leiden: Ian Maire, 1637), pp. 56–57”, 1637. Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Candidate pack passage, antecedent texts (research/prehistory). Read on the page image for the candidate pack; it could not be matched mechanically. Page images without a text layer (djvu pages 5, 60, 61 and 62 at 960 px; the hash given is page 61, printed p. 57); quotations transcribed from the images on 2026-11-03. Long s is transcribed as s; u and v, accents, spelling and ‘&’ as printed. The four images have the same SHA-256 values as the copies a second check by a model of another family read. Quoted also on the text’s U02 record; counted once. No human editorial review. Status and meaning Editorial status. Machine-checked . Machines found this record and checked it against its sources; no person accepted it individually. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.
Relation. A passage of the document bears on the proposition without meeting its criterion; the record names the missing element. It is not an articulation and implies no influence.
Date. Year in the title-page imprint (Leiden, Ian Maire), read on the page image.
Record ID pre-c1-descartes-1637-context