René Descartes (1596-1650) was a French mathematician, physicist and philosopher. Today, Descartes is considered one of the founders of modern philosophy, because his philosophical ideas have had a great impact on later philosophers. That is why he is sometimes called ‘father of modern philosophy’. Descartes was a rationalist philosopher from the Baroque era. Their philosophy was based on rational and logical thinking as opposed to empiricism. Descartes is best known for his motto: ”Cogito, ergo sum”: ”I think, therefore I am”.
The youth of the French René Descartes
René Descartes was born on March 31, 1596. He was born in La Haye-en-Touraine, a French village renamed after Descartes in 1961. René grew up with his grandmother, because his mother died during childbirth and his father was often away for long periods due to his work as a councilor in Rennes. At the age of eleven, Descartes entered the Collège royal Henri-le-Grand de La Flèche. Here he had lessons in classical languages, mathematics and philosophy. In December 1614 he graduated from La Flèche. He then began his law studies at the University of Poitiers, which he graduated with a university degree in 1616.
From soldier to philosopher
In 1618 René Descartes left for the Netherlands, where he voluntarily joined the State Army of Prince Maurice. On November 10, 1618, he befriended a Dutch physician and philosopher named Isaac Beeckman. Together they worked on various phenomena, including:
- The free fall
- The chain line as a conic section
- The hydrostatic paradox
Descartes then left for Bavaria, where he took part as an officer in the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). During the war, the French philosopher received three visions. In his third vision, Descartes had seen a dictionary in which it was written: ,Quod vitae sectabor iter?, (What kind of life shall I lead?). As a result, the Frenchman resigned from the army to start a career as a philosopher and scientist.
The philosophy of René Descartes
The father of modern philosophy was very important during the scientific revolution. He had the idea of a mechanistic worldview. This means: the world was made by God, but God is not concerned with the world. God no longer has influence on the world, everything happens automatically. This idea was a source of inspiration for great thinkers such as Isaac Newton and Baruch Spinoza. This idea about the world brought Descartes into conflict with the church. The church accused Descartes of being a follower of atheism. This was a big taboo at the time. Descartes has therefore always denied being an atheist.
A well-known philosophy of René Descartes is Cartesian doubt. Cartesian doubt is a way of seeking security by doubting everything. Descartes began to doubt scientific inventions and the Bible. Because of this methodological doubt, Descartes realized the following: ,What I think is in most cases not true, but it is a fact that I think., Conclusion: ”Cogito ergo sum”: ”I think, therefore I am.”
Descartes was a rationalist philosopher. This means that he comes up with explanations rationally and using logic. According to Descartes, there are three certainties in order to think rationally.
- The first certainty is that of doubt. Doubt creates certainty.
- The second certainty is that of the existence of God. According to Descartes, God provides purity and purity is necessary for security.
- The third certainty is that of the existence of the external world.
Discours de la Method
One of Descartes’ best-known works is ,Discours de la Méthode,. This work was published on June 8, 1637. The full title is: Discours de la Méthode pour bien conduire sa raison, et chercher la vérité dans les sciences, or: Treatise on the Method of Rightly Guiding Reason and Truth in the sciences.
The book contains three appendices: La Dioptrique, Les Météores and La Géométrie. La Dioptrique contains Descartes’ discovery for the law of sinuses regarding refraction. Les Météores contains the explanation of the rainbow. La Géométrie contains the birth of geometry as we know it today. In the 17th century it was common to write in Latin as this was the language for teaching at universities. However, the French philosopher preferred to write in French, not only because he found it easier, but also so that his work differed from other writers and so that he could appeal to a wider audience than other scholars. He wanted to be understood by women and children. The first sentence of Discours de la Méthode is a quote from Descartes: ,Of all things in the world, common sense is the most evenly distributed. For everyone considers himself so well provided with it that even those who in every other matter are the most difficult ,They never want more of it than they already have., In many ways, Descartes made an important contribution to mathematics and physics and for the first time gave a glimpse of what the future might hold for science.
The death of the French phenomenon
In 1648 René Descartes went to Sweden because of an invitation. Due to the colder climate of Sweden, Descartes contracted pneumonia on February 1, 1650, from which he died ten days later, February 11, 1650.