RENÉ DESCARTES
Full name :René Descartes
René Descartes was a famous French
mathematician, Scientist and philosopher.
He was arguably the first major philosopher
in the modern era to make a serious effort
to defeat skepticism. His views about
knowledge and certainty, as well as his
views about the relationship between mind
and body have been very influential over
the last three centuries.
Descartes was born at La Haye
(now called Descartes), and educated at
the Jesuit College of La Flèche between
1606 and 1614. Descartes later claimed
that his education gave him little of
substance and that only mathematics
had given him certain knowledge. In this
lament he joins a chorus of seventeenth
century philosophers including Bacon,
Hobbes and Locke. In 1618 he went to
Holland to serve in the army of Prince
Maurice of Nassau, in travelled to
Germany with that army. On the night of
Nov ember 10, he had a series of dreams
Born: March 31, 1596(1596-03-31)
La Haye en Touraine, Touraine
(present-day Descartes,
Indre-et-Loire), France
Died: February 11, 1650(1650-02-
11) (aged 53)
Stockholm, Sweden
Era: 17th-century philosophy
Region: Western Philosophy
School: Cartesianism, Rationalism,
Foundationalism
Main Metaphysics, Epistemology,
Interests: Science, Mathematics
Notable: Cogito ergo sum,
method of doubt,
Ideas: Cartesian coordinate system,
Cartesian dualism,
ontological argument for the
existence of God; regarded as a
founder of Modern philosophy
Influenced by:
Plato, Aristotle, Alhazen,
Averroes, Avicenna, Anselm,
St. Augustine, Aquinas, Ockham,
Suarez, Mersenne,
Sextus Empiricus,
Michel de Montaigne,
Duns Scotus
Influenced:
Most philosophers after him
including: Spinoza, Hobbes,
Arnauld, Malebranche, Pascal,
Locke, Leibniz, More, Kant,
Husserl, Brunschvicg, Žižek,
Chomsky, Stanley, Dirck
Rembrantsz van Nierop
Signature
INCLUDEPICTURE "http://upload.wik
which he interpreted as signs that he
would found a universal science. The
most important influence on Descartes at
this time was the mathematician Issac
Beeckman, who

who stimulated Descartes by posing a number of problem s and discusiing issues

in physics and mathematics with him. His first substantial work was the Regulae
or Rules for the Direction of Mind written in 1628-9 but not published until 1701.
This work shows Descartes interest in method which he shared with many
sixteenth and seventeenth century scientists, mathematicians and philosophers.

One source of this interest in method was ancient mathematics. The thirteen
books of Euclid's Elements was a model of knowledge and deductive method. But
how had all this been achieved? Archimedes had made many remarkable
discoveries. How had he come to make these discoveries? The method in which
the results were presented (sometimes called the method of synthesis) was clearly
not the method by which these results were discovered. So, the search was on for
the method used by the ancient mathematicians to make their discoveries (the
method of analysis). Descartes is clearly convinced that the discovery of the
proper method is the key to scientific advance.

In November 1628 Descartes was in Paris, where he

made himself famous in a confrontation with Chandoux.
Chandoux claimed that science could only be based on
probabilities . This view reflected the dominance in French
intellectual circles of Renaissance skepticism. This skptical
view was rooted in the religious crisis in Europe resulting
from the Protestant Reformation and had been deepened by
the publication of the works of Sextus Empiricus and
reflections on disagreements between classical authors. It
was strengthened again by considerations about the
differences in culture between New World cultures and that
of Europe, and by the debates over the new Copernican
system. All of this had been eloquently formulated by
Montaigne in his Apology for Raymond Sebond and
developed by his followers. Descartes attacked this view,
claiming only that certainty could serve as a basis for
knowledge, and that he himself had a method for attaining
such certainty. In the same year Descartes moved to Holland
where he remained with only brief interruptions until 1649.
 In Holland Descartes produced a scientific work called
Le Monde or The World which he was about to publish in
1634. At the point, however, he learned that Galileo had
been condemned by the Church for teaching Copernicanism.
Descartes' book was Copernican to the core, and he
therefore had it suppressed. In 1638 Descartes published a
book containing three essays on mathematical and scientific
subjects and the Discourse on Method. These works were
written in French (rather th an Latin) and were aimed at the
educated world rather than simply academics. In 1641
Descartes followed this with the Meditations de Prima
Philosophia (Meditations on First Philosophy). This short
work is more metaphysical than scientific, and aims to
establish the certain foundations for the sciences which
Descartes had announced in his confrontation with
Chandoux in 1628. (For a more detailed account of this work
see Structure of the Meditations. The work was published
together with Objections and Replies from a six (and then
seven) philosophers and theologians, including Thomas
Hobbes, Pierre Gassendi and Antoine Arnauld.

After the Meditations, Descartes produced The Principles of Philosophy in 1644,

the most complete statement of his mature philosophy and of the Cartesian
system in general. Part 1 explains Descartes metaphysical views. Part II gives a
detailed exposition of the principles of Cartesian physics. Part III applies those
principles of physics to give a detailed explanation of the universe, and Part IV
deals with a wide variety of terrestial phenomena. Two more parts were planned,
to deal with pl ants and animals and man, but were not completed. In 1648
Descartes published "Notes against a Program" -- a response to a pamphlet
published anonymously by Henricus Regius, Professor of Medecine at the
University of Utrecht. Regius had been an early and enthusiastic supporter of
Descartes. But when Regius published his Foundations of Physics Descartes
complained that Regius had shamelessly used unpublished papers of Descartes to
which he had access and had distorted Descartes' ideas. The "Notes" both
illustrate the kind of academic controversies in which Descartes was involved
during this decade, but also provides some insight into his views about mind and
his doctrine of innate ideas.

Descartes last work Les Passions de l'áme was written as a result of the
correspondence which Descartes carried on with Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia.
The work was written in French, and published in Amsterdam and Paris in 1649.
This work (like the Principles) is composed of a large number of short articles.
Princess Elisabeth had raised the question of how the soul could interact with the
body in 1643. In response to Elisabeth's questions, Descartes wrote a short work
which developed into the Passions of the Soul. The work is a combination of
psychology, physiology and ethics, and contains Descartes' theory of two way
causal interaction via the pineal gland.

Two months before the publication of the Passions Descartes set sail for
Stockholm, Sweden, at the invitation of Queen Christina of Sweden. Descartes'
death in Stockholm of pneumonia, has regularly been attributed to the rigours of
the Swedish climate and the fact that Descartes (no early riser) was sometimes
required to give the Queen lessons as early as five in the morning. However
unpleasant these conditions may have been, it seems plain that Descartes
acquired his fatal malady as a result of nursing his friend the French
ambassador (who had pneumonia) back to health.

Descartes Time Line

1596 31 March: born at La Haye near Tours

1606-14 :He attends Jesuit college of La Fleche in Anjou

1616: Descartes takes doctor of law at University of Poitiers

1618 :He goes to Holland and joins the army of Prince Maurice of Nassau

1619 :He travels in Germany; on 10 November in Ulm has dream of a unified

scientific system based on mathematics

1622: He returns to France, during next few years spends time in Paris, but also
travels in Europe

1628 (or 29): He composes Rules for the Direction of Mind (which was first
published in 1701);

1628: In November Descartes distinguished himself in a confrontation with

Chandoux, who claimed that all science is based on probability while Descartes
claimed that only certainty could be the basis of human knowledge and that he
had a method for attaining certainty. Following this, Descartes was encouraged
by Cardinal Berulle to develop his system.

1628: Descartes leaves for Holland which is to be his home until 1649

1629 :He begins working on The World

1633: The condemnation of Galileo leads Descartes to abandon plans to publish
The World

1635 :The birth of Descartes' natural daughter, named Francine, baptized 7

August (died 1640)

1637 :Descartes publishes Discourse on Method, with Optics, Meterology and the
Geometry

1641: Meditations on First Philosophy published together with the first six sets of
Objections and Replies

1642 :Second edition of the Meditations published along with all seven sets of
objections and replies. Descartes meets Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia

1643 :Cartesian philosophy condemned at the University of Utrecht; Descartes'

long correspondence with the Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia begins.

1644: Visits France: The Principles of Philosophy published.

1647: Descartes is awarded a pension by the King of France; he publishes

Comments on a Certain Broadsheet; begins work on The Description of the
Human Body

1648: He is interviewed by Frans Burman at Egmond-Binnen which leads to the

publication of Conversations with Burman

1649 :He goes to Sweden on invitation of Queen Christina; the Passions of the
Soul published

1650 :11 February: dies in Stockholm