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Western Philosophy
17th-century philosophy
René Descartes. 17th century philosophy in the Western world is generally regarded as being the start of Modern philosophy, and a departure from the medieval approach Portrait by Frans Hals, 1648. Frans Hals (c 1580– August 26, 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter especially famous for portraiture.
Name
René Descartes
Birth March 31, 1596
La Haye en Touraine [now Descartes], Indre-et-Loire, France
Death February 11, 1650 (aged 53)
Stockholm, Sweden
School/tradition Cartesianism, Rationalism, Foundationalism
Main interests Metaphysics, Epistemology, Science, Mathematics
Notable ideas Cogito ergo sum, method of doubt, Cartesian coordinate system, Cartesian dualism, ontological argument for existence of God; regarded as a founder of Modern philosophy
Influenced by Plato, Aristotle, Alhazen,Averroes, Avicenna, al-Ghazali, Anselm, St. Augustine, Aquinas, Ockham, Suarez, Mersenne, Sextus Empiricus, Michel de Montaigne, Duns Scotus
Influenced Spinoza, Hobbes, Arnauld, Malebranche, Pascal, Locke, Leibniz, More, Kant, Husserl, Brunschvicg, Žižek, Chomsky, Stanley

René Descartes (French IPA: [ʁəne de'kaʁt] Latin:Renatus Cartesius) (March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), also known as Renatus Cartesius (latinized form), was a highly influential French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer. Events 307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Descartes is a town and commune of the Indre-et-Loire département in France. Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Events 660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. ('stɔkhɔlm is Sweden 's Capital and its largest City. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the parliament, and the "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Cartesianism is the name given to the philosophical doctrine (or school of René Descartes. In Epistemology and in its broadest sense rationalism is "any view appealing to Reason as a source of knowledge or justification" (Lacey 286 Foundationalism is any theory in Epistemology (typically theories of justification, but also of Knowledge) that holds that beliefs are justified (known Metaphysics is the branch of Philosophy investigating principles of reality transcending those of any particular science Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and " la Cogito ergo sum " (I think therefore I am sometimes misquoted as la Dubito ergo cogito ergo sum (Latin "I doubt therefore I think therefore I am" Methodic doubt (" Hyperbolic doubt " is a systematic process of being skeptical about (or doubting the truth of one's beliefs which has become a characteristic method In Mathematics, the Cartesian coordinate system (also called rectangular coordinate system) is used to determine each point uniquely in a plane In Philosophy of mind, dualism is a set of views about the relationship between mind and matter which begins with the claim that mental phenomena are in some An Ontological argument for the existence of God attempts the method of a priori proof, which uses intuition and reason alone Modern philosophy is Philosophy done in Europe and North America between the 17th and early 20th centuries. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. TemplateInfobox Muslim scholars --> ( Arabic: ابو علی، حسن بن حسن بن هيثم Latinized Abū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd (Arabicأبو الوليد محمد بن احمد بن رشد better known just as Ibn Rushd (ابن رشد and in European TemplateInfobox Muslim scholars --> ( Persian /ابو علی الحسین ابن عبدالله ابن سینا (born Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (1058-1111 ( ابو حامد محمد ابن محمد الغزالی or امام محمد غزالی was born and died Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033 &ndash April 21, 1109) was an Italian medieval Philosopher, theologian, and church official William of Ockham (also Occam, Hockham, or any of several other spellings ˈɒkəm (c Francisco Suárez ( 5 January 1548, Granada, Spain - 25 September 1617, Lisbon, Portugal) was a Marin Mersenne, Marin Mersennus or le Père Mersenne ( September 8, 1588 &ndash September 1, 1648) was Sextus Empiricus (c 160-210 AD was a Physician and Philosopher, and has been variously reported to have lived in Alexandria, Rome, or Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (French miʃɛl ekɛm də mɔ̃tɛɲ ( February 28 1533 &ndash September 13 1592) was one of the most influential writers Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza (ברוך שפינוזה Bento de Espinosa Benedictus de Spinoza ( November 24, 1632 – February 21, Thomas Hobbes (born 5 April 1588died 4 December 1679 was an English philosopher, whose famous 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation Antoine Arnauld, ( February 6, 1612 - August 6, 1694) &mdash le Grand as contemporaries called him to distinguish him from his "Malebranche" redirects here For the fictional demons see Malebolge. Blaise Pascal (blɛz paskal (June 19 1623 &ndash August 19 1662 was a French Mathematician, Physicist, and religious Philosopher John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704 was an English Philosopher. Henry More ( October 12 1614 &ndash September 1, 1687) was an English Philosopher of the Cambridge Platonist school Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (ˈhʊsɛrl April 8 1859 – April 26 1938) was a philosopher, known as the father of Léon Brunschvicg ( November 10, 1869 – January 18, 1944) was a French Idealist Philosopher. Slavoj Žižek (ˈslavoj ˈʒiʒɛk (born 21 March 1949) is a Post-Marxist Sociologist, Philosopher, and Cultural critic Avram Noam Chomsky (noʊm ˈtʃɑmski born December 7 1928 is an American linguist, Philosopher, cognitive scientist, Political Jason Stanley (b October 12, 1969) is an American Philosopher currently teaching at Rutgers University in New Brunswick NJ Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Events 307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Events 660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. In literature Latinisation is the practice of writing a name in a Latin style when writing in Latin so as to more closely emulate Latin authors or to present a more impressive French philosophy, here taken to mean Philosophy in French language, has been extremely diverse and has influenced both the analytic and continental A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of Mathematics. He has been dubbed the "Father of Modern Philosophy," and much of subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which continue to be studied closely. His influence in mathematics is also apparent, the Cartesian coordinate system that is used in plane geometry and algebra being named for him, and he was one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution. In Mathematics, the Cartesian coordinate system (also called rectangular coordinate system) is used to determine each point uniquely in a plane The period which many historians of science call the Scientific Revolution can be roughly dated as having begun in 1543 the year in which Nicolaus Copernicus published

Descartes frequently sets his views apart from those of his predecessors. In the opening section of the Passions of the Soul, a treatise on the Early Modern version of what are now commonly called emotions, he goes so far as to assert that he will write on his topic "as if no one had written on these matters before". In the treatise Passions of the Soul ( Les passions de l'âme) the last of Descartes ' published work completed in 1649 and dedicated to Princess Elizabeth The early modern period is a term initially used by historians to refer mainly to the period roughly from 1500 to 1800 in Western Europe ( Early modern Europe) Many elements of his philosophy have precedents in late Aristotelianism, the revived Stoicism of the 16th century, or in earlier philosophers like St. Augustine. Aristotelianism is a tradition of Philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. Stoicism, a school of Hellenistic philosophy, was founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early third century BC In his natural philosophy, he differs from the Schools on two major points: First, he rejects the analysis of corporeal substance into matter and form; second, he rejects any appeal to ends — divine or natural — in explaining natural phenomena. Scholasticism was the dominant form of theology and philosophy in the Latin West in the Middle Ages, particularly in the 12th 13th and 14th centuries Matter is commonly defined as being anything that has mass and that takes up space. Teleology ( Greek: telos: end purpose is the philosophical study of design and Purpose. In his theology, he insists on the absolute freedom of God’s act of creation. Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective


Descartes was a major figure in 17th century continental rationalism, later advocated by Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz, and opposed by the empiricist school of thought consisting of Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar In Epistemology and in its broadest sense rationalism is "any view appealing to Reason as a source of knowledge or justification" (Lacey 286 Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza (ברוך שפינוזה Bento de Espinosa Benedictus de Spinoza ( November 24, 1632 – February 21, In Philosophy, empiricism is a theory of Knowledge which asserts that knowledge arises from Experience. Thomas Hobbes (born 5 April 1588died 4 December 1679 was an English philosopher, whose famous 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704 was an English Philosopher. George Berkeley (ˈbɑrkli (12 March 1685 14 January 1753 also known as Bishop Berkeley, was a Philosopher. David Hume (26 April 1711 25 August 1776 Scottish Philosopher, Economist, and Historian is an important figure in Western philosophy Leibniz, Spinoza and Descartes were all versed in mathematics as well as philosophy, and Descartes and Leibniz contributed greatly to science as well. As the inventor of the Cartesian coordinate system, Descartes founded analytic geometry, the bridge between algebra and geometry, crucial to the invention of calculus and analysis. In Mathematics, the Cartesian coordinate system (also called rectangular coordinate system) is used to determine each point uniquely in a plane Analytic geometry, also called coordinate geometry and earlier referred to as Cartesian geometry or analytical geometry, is the study of Geometry Calculus ( Latin, calculus, a small stone used for counting is a branch of Mathematics that includes the study of limits, Derivatives Analysis has its beginnings in the rigorous formulation of Calculus. Descartes' reflections on mind and mechanism began the strain of Western thought that much later, impelled by the invention of the electronic computer and by the possibility of machine intelligence, blossomed into the Turing test and related thought. The term Western thought is usually associated with the cultural tradition that traces its origins to Greek thought and the Abrahamic religions A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. The Turing test is a proposal for a test of a Machine 's ability to demonstrate intelligence His most famous statement is: Cogito ergo sum (French: Je pense, donc je suis; English: I think, therefore I am), found in §7 of part I of Principles of Philosophy (Latin) and in part IV of Discourse on the Method (French). " la Cogito ergo sum " (I think therefore I am sometimes misquoted as la Dubito ergo cogito ergo sum (Latin "I doubt therefore I think therefore I am" French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Principles of Philosophy ( Principia philosophiae) was written in Latin by René Descartes. Organization How to think correctly The Method of Science Morals Maxims deduced from this Method Proof of God and the Soul Physics the heart

Contents

Biography

Graduation registry for Descartes at the Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand, La Flèche, 1616.
Graduation registry for Descartes at the Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand, La Flèche, 1616. The Prytanée National Militaire, originally Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand, is a French school managed by the military, offering regular high-school education La Flèche is a commune of the Sarthe département in France, on the banks of the Loir river

Descartes was born in La Haye en Touraine (now Descartes), Indre-et-Loire, France. Descartes is a town and commune of the Indre-et-Loire département in France. Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. When he was one year old, his mother Jeanne Brochard died of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common His father Joachim was a judge in the High Court of Justice. At the age of ten, he entered the Jesuit Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand at La Flèche. The Society of Jesus ( Latin: Societas Iesu, SJ and SI or SJ, SI) is a Catholic religious order The Prytanée National Militaire, originally Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand, is a French school managed by the military, offering regular high-school education La Flèche is a commune of the Sarthe département in France, on the banks of the Loir river After graduation, he studied at the University of Poitiers, earning a Baccalauréat and License in law in 1616, in accordance with his father's wishes that he should become a lawyer. The University of Poitiers (Université de Poitiers is a University located in Poitiers, France. The baccalauréat (bakaloʁeˈa often known in France colloquially as le bac or le bachôt, is an academic qualification which Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society

Descartes never actually practiced law, however, and in 1618, during the Thirty Years' War, he entered the service of Maurice of Nassau, leader of the United Provinces of Netherlands. For the Mauritanian Thirty Years' War see Char Bouba war. For the band see The 30 Years War. Maurice of Nassau (Maurits van Nassau ( 14 November 1567 &ndash 23 April 1625) Prince of Orange (1618&ndash1625 The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands His reason for becoming a mercenary was to see the world and to discover the truth.

“ I entirely abandoned the study of letters. Resolving to seek no knowledge other than that of which could be found in myself or else in the great book of the world, I spent the rest of my youth travelling, visiting courts and armies, mixing with people of diverse temperaments and ranks, gathering various experiences, testing myself in the situations which fortune offered me, and at all times reflecting upon whatever came my way so as to derive some profit from it. (Descartes, Discourse on the Method) ”

On November 10, 1618, while walking through Breda, Descartes met Isaac Beeckman, who sparked his interest in mathematics and the new physics, particularly the problem of the fall of heavy bodies. Events 1444 - Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Vladislaus III of Varna (aka Ulaszlo I of Hungary and Wladyslaw Breda ( is a Municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. Isaac Beeckman ( December 10, 1588 - May 19, 1637) was a Dutch Philosopher and Scientist. On November 10, 1619, while travelling in Germany and thinking about using mathematics to solve problems in physics, Descartes had a dream through which he "discovered the foundations of a marvelous science". Events 1444 - Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Vladislaus III of Varna (aka Ulaszlo I of Hungary and Wladyslaw [1] This became a pivotal point in young Descartes' life and the foundation on which he developed analytic geometry. He dedicated the rest of his life to researching this connection between mathematics and nature. Descartes also studied St. Augustine's concept of free will, the belief that our will is essentially equal to God's will; that is, that we are naturally independent of God's will. The question of free will

In 1622 he returned to France, and during the next few years spent time in Paris and other parts of Europe. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city He arrived in La Haye in 1623, selling all of his property, investing this remuneration in bonds which provided Descartes with a comfortable income for the rest of his life. In Finance, a bond is a Debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and is obliged to repay the principal and Interest Descartes was present at the siege of La Rochelle by Cardinal Richelieu in 1627. The Siege of La Rochelle was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627-1628 This article is about a cardinal For information on the Russian also called The Red Eminence, see Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov.

He returned to the Dutch Republic in 1628, where he lived until September 1649. "United Netherlands" redirects here For the "Kingdom of the United Netherlands" see United Kingdom of the Netherlands. In April 1629 he joined the University of Franeker and the next year Leiden University. The University of Franeker ( 1585 - 1811) was a University in Franeker, West Frisia, presently part of the Netherlands. Leiden University (Universiteit Leiden located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest University in The Netherlands. In October 1630 he had a fall-out with Beeckman, whom he accused of plagiarizing some of his ideas (though the situation was more likely the reverse). In Amsterdam, he had a relationship with a servant girl, Helène Jans, with whom he had a daughter, Francine, who was born in 1635 in Deventer, at which time Descartes taught at the Utrecht University. Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west Deventer is a Municipality and City in the Salland region of the Dutch Province of Overijssel. Utrecht University ( Universiteit Utrecht in Dutch) is a University in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Francine Descartes died in 1640 in Amersfoort. Amersfoort is a municipality and the second largest city of the province of Utrecht in central Netherlands.

While in the Netherlands he changed his address frequently, living among other places in Dordrecht (1628), Franeker (1629), Amsterdam (1629-30), Leiden (1630), Amsterdam (1630-2), Deventer (1632-4), Amsterdam (1634-5), Utrecht (1635-6), Leiden (1636), Egmond (1636-8), Santpoort (1638-1640), Leiden (1640-1), Endegeest (a castle near Oegstgeest) (1641-3), and finally for an extended time in Egmond-Binnen (1643-9). Dordrecht (population 119649 in 2004 or in English (and locally colloquially Dordt, is a city and municipality in the Dutch province of South Franeker (Frjentsjer is one of the eleven cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Franekeradeel. "Leyden" redirects here For other uses see Leyden (disambiguation. Deventer is a Municipality and City in the Salland region of the Dutch Province of Overijssel. Utrecht ( city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. Egmond is a former Municipality in the north-western Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Velsen ( is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Oegstgeest (population 21188 in 2004 is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Egmond-Binnen ( is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland.

Despite these frequent moves he wrote all his major work during his 20 plus years in the Netherlands, where he managed to revolutionize mathematics and philosophy. In 1633, Galileo was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church, and Descartes abandoned plans to publish Treatise on the World, his work of the previous four years. Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 &ndash 8 January 1642 was a Tuscan ( Italian) Physicist, Mathematician, Astronomer, and Philosopher The World, originally titled Le Monde and also called Treatise on the Light, is a book by René Descartes ( 1596 &ndash 1650 "Discourse on the Method" was published in 1637. In it an early attempt at explaining reflexes mechanistically is made. Descartes also lays out four rules of thought, meant to ensure that our knowledge rests upon a firm foundation.

René Descartes with Queen Christina of Sweden.
René Descartes with Queen Christina of Sweden. Christina (Kristina Augusta ( – 19 April 1689 later known as Christina Alexandra and sometimes Countess Dohna, was

Descartes continued to publish works concerning both mathematics and philosophy for the rest of his life. In 1643, Cartesian philosophy was condemned at the University of Utrecht, and Descartes began his long correspondence with Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia. Utrecht University ( Universiteit Utrecht in Dutch) is a University in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Elisabeth von der Pfalz or Elisabeth of Bohemia or Princess Palatine ( 26 December 1618 &ndash 11 February 1680) In 1647, he was awarded a pension by the King of France. List of Queens and Empresses of France Wikipedia_talkFeatured_lists#Proposed_change_to_all_featured_lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below Descartes was interviewed by Frans Burman at Egmond-Binnen in 1648. Egmond-Binnen ( is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland.

René Descartes died on February 11, 1650 in Stockholm, Sweden, where he had been invited as a teacher for Queen Christina of Sweden. Events 660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. ('stɔkhɔlm is Sweden 's Capital and its largest City. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the parliament, and the "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Christina (Kristina Augusta ( – 19 April 1689 later known as Christina Alexandra and sometimes Countess Dohna, was The cause of death was said to be pneumonia — accustomed to working in bed until noon, he may have suffered a detrimental effect on his health due to Christina's demands for early morning study (the lack of sleep could have severely compromised his immune system). Pneumonia is an inflammatory illness of the Lung. Frequently it is described as lung Parenchyma / alveolar inflammation and abnormal Others believe that Descartes may have contracted pneumonia as result of nursing a French ambassador, Dejion A. Nopeleen, ill with the aforementioned disease, back to health. [2]

In 1663, the Pope placed his works on the Index of Prohibited Books. Pope Alexander VII ( February 13, 1599 &ndash May 22, 1667) born Fabio Chigi, was Pope from April 7, The Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("List of Prohibited Books" was a list of publications prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church.

The tomb of Descartes (middle, with detail of the inscription), in the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris.
The tomb of Descartes (middle, with detail of the inscription), in the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris. Saint-Germain-des-Prés is an area of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city

As a Roman Catholic in a Protestant nation, he was interred in a graveyard mainly used for unbaptized infants in Adolf Fredrikskyrkan in Stockholm. Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. Later, his remains were taken to France and buried in the church of Sainte-Geneviève-du-Mont in Paris. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city His memorial erected in the 18th century remains in the Swedish church.

During the French Revolution, his remains were disinterred for burial in the Panthéon among the great French thinkers. The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an The Panthéon ( Latin Pantheon, from Greek Pantheon meaning "All the gods" is a building in the Latin Quarter The village in the Loire Valley where he was born was renamed La Haye - Descartes in 1802, which was shortened to "Descartes" in 1967. Loire Valley (Vallée de la Loire is known as the Garden of France and the Cradle of the French Language. Currently his tomb is in the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris; his brain, however, resides in the Musée de l'Homme. Saint-Germain-des-Prés is an area of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés The Musée de l'Homme ( French for "Museum of Man" was created in 1937 by Paul Rivet, for the event of the Exposition Internationale

Philosophical work

Descartes is often regarded as the first modern thinker to provide a philosophical framework for the natural sciences as these began to develop. In Science, the term natural science refers to a naturalistic approach to the study of the Universe, which is understood as obeying rules or law of In his Discourse on the Method he attempts to arrive at a fundamental set of principles that one can know as true without any doubt. Organization How to think correctly The Method of Science Morals Maxims deduced from this Method Proof of God and the Soul Physics the heart To achieve this, he employs a method called hyperbolical/metaphysical doubt, sometimes also referred to as methodological skepticism: he rejects any ideas that can be doubted, and then reestablishes them in order to acquire a firm foundation for genuine knowledge. For a general discussion of skepticism see Skepticism. Philosophical skepticism (from Greek σκέψις - skepsis meaning [3]

Initially, Descartes arrives at only a single principle: thought exists. Thought cannot be separated from me, therefore, I exist (Discourse on the Method and Principles of Philosophy). Most famously, this is known as cogito ergo sum (Latin: "I think, therefore I am"), or more aptly, "Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum" (Latin: "I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am"). " la Cogito ergo sum " (I think therefore I am sometimes misquoted as la Dubito ergo cogito ergo sum (Latin "I doubt therefore I think therefore I am" " la Cogito ergo sum " (I think therefore I am sometimes misquoted as la Dubito ergo cogito ergo sum (Latin "I doubt therefore I think therefore I am" Therefore, Descartes concluded, if he doubted, then something or someone must be doing the doubting, therefore the very fact that he doubted proved his existence. "The simple meaning of the phrase is that if someone is wondering whether or not he exists, that is in and of itself proof that he does exist. " [4]

René Descartes at work.
René Descartes at work.

Descartes concludes that he can be certain that he exists because he thinks. But in what form? He perceives his body through the use of the senses; however, these have previously been proven unreliable. So Descartes concludes that the only indubitable knowledge is that he is a thinking thing. Thinking is his essence as it is the only thing about him that cannot be doubted. Descartes defines "thought" (cogitatio) as "what happens in me such that I am immediately conscious of it, insofar as I am conscious of it". Thinking is thus every activity of a person of which he is immediately conscious. Consciousness has been defined loosely as a constellation of attributes of Mind such as Subjectivity, Self-awareness, Sentience, and the

To further demonstrate the limitations of the senses, Descartes proceeds with what is known as the Wax Argument. He considers a piece of wax; his senses inform him that it has certain characteristics, such as shape, texture, size, color, smell, and so forth. When he brings the wax towards a flame, these characteristics change completely. However, it seems that it is still the same thing: it is still a piece of wax, even though the data of the senses inform him that all of its characteristics are different. Therefore, in order to properly grasp the nature of the wax, he cannot use the senses. He must use his mind. Descartes concludes:

“ Thus what I thought I had seen with my eyes, I actually grasped solely with the faculty of judgment, which is in my mind. ”

In this manner, Descartes proceeds to construct a system of knowledge, discarding perception as unreliable and instead admitting only deduction as a method. In Psychology and the Cognitive sciences perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory Information. Deductive reasoning is Reasoning which uses deductive Arguments to move from given statements ( Premises to Conclusions which must be true if the In the third and fifth Meditation, he offers an ontological proof of a benevolent God (through both the ontological argument and trademark argument). Meditations on First Philosophy (subtitled In which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated) is a philosophical treatise written An Ontological argument for the existence of God attempts the method of a priori proof, which uses intuition and reason alone God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. An Ontological argument for the existence of God attempts the method of a priori proof, which uses intuition and reason alone The trademark argument is an a priori argument for the Existence of God developed by French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes. Because God is benevolent, he can have some faith in the account of reality his senses provide him, for God has provided him with a working mind and sensory system and does not desire to deceive him. See also Sense A sensory system is a part of the Nervous system responsible for processing sensory information From this supposition, however, he finally establishes the possibility of acquiring knowledge about the world based on deduction and perception. In terms of epistemology therefore, he can be said to have contributed such ideas as a rigorous conception of foundationalism and the possibility that reason is the only reliable method of attaining knowledge. Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Foundationalism is any theory in Epistemology (typically theories of justification, but also of Knowledge) that holds that beliefs are justified (known Reason involves the ability to think understand and draw Conclusions in an Abstract way as in Human thinking

In Descartes' system, knowledge takes the form of ideas, and philosophical investigation is the contemplation of these ideas. This concept would influence subsequent internalist movements as Descartes' epistemology requires that a connection made by conscious awareness will distinguish knowledge from falsity. Internalism and externalism are now part of the standard jargon of philosophical discourse and are central to important debates As a result of his Cartesian doubt, he viewed rational knowledge as being "incapable of being destroyed" and sought to construct an unshakable ground upon which all other knowledge can be based. Cartesian doubt is a form of Philosophical scepticism associated with the writings and methodology of René Descartes Descartes's method René The first item of unshakable knowledge that Descartes argues for is the aforementioned cogito, or thinking thing.

Descartes also wrote a response to skepticism about the existence of the external world. For a general discussion of skepticism see Skepticism. Philosophical skepticism (from Greek σκέψις - skepsis meaning He argues that sensory perceptions come to him involuntarily, and are not willed by him. In Psychology and the Cognitive sciences perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory Information. They are external to his senses, and according to Descartes, this is evidence of the existence of something outside of his mind, and thus, an external world. Descartes goes on to show that the things in the external world are material by arguing that God would not deceive him as to the ideas that are being transmitted, and that God has given him the "propensity" to believe that such ideas are caused by material things.

Descartes was also renowned for his work in producing the Cartesian Theory of Fallacies. This can be most easily explored using the statement: "This statement is a lie. " While it is most commonly referred to as a paradox, the Cartesian Theory of Fallacies states that at any given time a statement can be both true and false simultaneously due to its contradictory nature. A paradox is a true statement or group of statements that leads to a Contradiction or a situation which defies intuition; or inversely The statement is true in its fallacy. Thus, Descartes developed the Cartesian Theory of Fallacies, which greatly influenced the thinking of the time. Many would-be philosophers were trying to develop inexplicable statements of seeming fact, however, this laid rumors of such a proposition impossible. It must be noted however that many philosophers believe that when Descartes formulated his Theory of Fallacies, he intended to be lying, which embodies the theory in and of itself.

Dualism

Descartes suggested that the body works like a machine, that it has the material properties of extension and motion, and that it follows the laws of physics. A machine is any device that uses Energy to perform some activity The mind (or soul), on the other hand, was described as a nonmaterial entity that lacks extension and motion, and does not follow the laws of physics. MIND ( Moving In New Directions) (est 1975 is an alternative education high school in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The soul, according to many religious and philosophical beliefs is the self-awareness, or Consciousness, unique to a particular living Descartes argued that only humans have minds, and that the mind interacts with the body at the pineal gland. The pineal gland (also called the pineal body, epiphysis cerebri, or epiphysis) is a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate Brain This form of dualism proposes that the mind controls the body, but that the body can also influence the otherwise rational mind, such as when people act out of passion. Dualism denotes a state of two parts The word's origin is the Latin duo, "two". Most of the previous accounts of the relationship between mind and body had been uni-directional.

Descartes suggested that the pineal gland is "the seat of the soul" for several reasons. The pineal gland (also called the pineal body, epiphysis cerebri, or epiphysis) is a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate Brain First, the soul is unitary, and unlike many areas of the brain the pineal gland appears to be unitary (microscopic inspection reveals it is formed of two hemispheres). Second, Descartes observed that the pineal gland was located near the ventricles. The ventricular system is a set of structures in the Brain continuous with the Central canal of the Spinal cord. He believed the animal spirits of the ventricles acted through the nerves to control the body, and that the pineal gland influenced this process. Cerebrospinal fluid ( CSF) Liquor cerebrospinalis, is a clear Bodily fluid that occupies the Subarachnoid space and the Ventricular system Finally, Descartes incorrectly believed that only humans have pineal glands, just as, in his view, only humans have minds. This led him to the belief that animals cannot feel pain, and Descartes' practice of vivisection (the dissection of live animals) became widely used throughout Europe until the Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century Cartesian Dualism set the agenda for philosophical discussion of the mind-body problem for many years after Descartes' death. Philosophy of mind is the branch of Philosophy that studies the nature of the Mind, Mental events Mental functions mental properties The question of how a nonmaterial mind could influence a material body, without invoking supernatural explanations, remains an enigma to this day.

Mathematical legacy

Descartes' theory provided the basis for the calculus of Newton and Leibniz, by applying infinitesimal calculus to the tangent line problem, thus permitting the evolution of that branch of modern mathematics. Sir Isaac Newton, FRS (ˈnjuːtən 4 January 1643 31 March 1727) Biography Early years See also Isaac Newton's early life and achievements Calculus ( Latin, calculus, a small stone used for counting is a branch of Mathematics that includes the study of limits, Derivatives For the tangent function see Trigonometric functions. For other uses see Tangent (disambiguation. [5] This appears even more astounding considering that the work was just intended as an example to his Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison, et chercher la verité dans les sciences (Discourse on the Method to Rightly Conduct the Reason and Search for the Truth in Sciences, better known under the shortened title Discours de la méthode).

Descartes' rule of signs is also a commonly used method to determine the number of positive and negative zeros of a polynomial. Descartes' rule of signs, first described by René Descartes in his work La Géométrie, is a technique for determining the number of positive

Descartes created analytic geometry, and discovered an early form of the law of conservation of momentum. Analytic geometry, also called coordinate geometry and earlier referred to as Cartesian geometry or analytical geometry, is the study of Geometry He outlined his views on the universe in his Principles of Philosophy. Principles of Philosophy ( Principia philosophiae) was written in Latin by René Descartes.

Descartes also made contributions to the field of optics. He showed by using geometric construction and the law of refraction (also known as Descartes' law) that the angular radius of a rainbow is 42 degrees (i. In Optics and Physics, Snell's law (also known as Descartes' law or the law of refraction) is a formula used to describe the relationship e. the angle subtended at the eye by the edge of the rainbow and the ray passing from the sun through the rainbow's centre is 42°). [6] He also independently discovered the law of reflection, and his essay on optics was the first published mention of this law. Specular reflection is the perfect Mirror -like reflection of light (or sometimes other kinds of Wave) from a surface in which light from a single incoming [7]

One of Descartes most enduring legacies was his development of Cartesian geometry which uses algebra to describe geometry. Analytic geometry, also called coordinate geometry and earlier referred to as Cartesian geometry or analytical geometry, is the study of Geometry He also invented the notation which uses superscripts to indicate powers or exponents, for example the 2 used in x² to indicate squaring. This article is about the terms 'subscript' and 'superscript' as used in typography

Writings by Descartes

References

Collected works

Collected English translations

Single works

Music

Secondary literature

Notes

  1. ^ "René Descartes". Encyclopedia Britannica. (1911). Retrieved on 2007-08-15. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed  
  2. ^ Rene Descartes. Archived from the original on 2007-05-07. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 558 - In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses Retrieved on 2007-08-15. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed
  3. ^ Rebecca, Copenhaver. Forms of skepticism. Archived from the original on 2005-01-08. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 871 - Battle of Ashdown - Ethelred of Wessex defeats a Danish invasion army Retrieved on 2007-08-15. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed
  4. ^ Ten books: Chosen by Raj Persaud. The British Journal of Psychiatry. The British Journal of Psychiatry is a British Peer reviewed Scientific journal published monthly by The Royal College of Psychiatrists
  5. ^ Gullberg, Jan (1997). Mathematics From The Birth Of Numbers. W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-04002-X.  
  6. ^ Tipler, P. A. and G. Mosca (2004). Physics For Scientists And Engineers. W. H. Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-4389-2.  
  7. ^ "René Descartes". Encarta. (2008). Microsoft. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed  

See also

External links

General

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Persondata
NAME Descartes, René
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cartesius
SHORT DESCRIPTION French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist
DATE OF BIRTH 31 March 1596
PLACE OF BIRTH La Haye en Touraine, Indre-et-Loire, France
DATE OF DEATH 11 February 1650
PLACE OF DEATH Stockholm, Sweden

Events 307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Descartes is a town and commune of the Indre-et-Loire département in France. Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Events 660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. ('stɔkhɔlm is Sweden 's Capital and its largest City. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the parliament, and the "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation.
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