The French Philosopher Rene Descartes Essay - 1068 Words

The French Philosopher Rene Descartes The French philosopher Rene Descartes lived from 1596-1650. He was the son of an aristocrat and traveled throughout Europe studying a wide-variety of subjects including math, science, law, medicine, religion, and philosophy. Descartes was greatly influenced by other thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment. Descartes was a rationalist. Like many philosophers, novelists, and poets of his time, he questioned his own existence, and his reason for being, mans purpose in the scheme of the universe. Descartes set forth a number of philosophical trends. The†¦show more content†¦Whatever we see we bring back to our minds. If we don not like what that something, then we distort it. Our eyes and other senses distort the truth and can deceive us. Descarte says: I have accepted as possessed of the highest truth and certainty I have learned either from the senses or through the senses. Now these senses I have sometimes found to be deceptive; and it is only prudent never to place complete confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived. (Descartes, Rene, Meditations, Struhl, Paula Rothenberg, and Struhl Karsten J., editors, Philosophy Now. Random House: 1980, P. 88) Our eyes and other senses distort the truth and can deceive us. We must use both the mind and the senses, we must observe nature and analyze what we see. This is the law of nature Descartes discovers, and his idea, I think, therefore I am, corresponds to it, therefore it is true. However, in order to discover truth we must be totally neutral. We cannot allow our senses to deceive us in the pursuit of truth. Descartes has a clear distinct picture of God, which he cannot, and will not doubt. He believes all other truths can be doubted, but not God. For whether I am awake or dreaming, 2 and 3 are 5, a square has no more than four sides, and it does not seem possible that truths so evident can ever be suspected of falsity. YetShow MoreRelatedRene Descartes: French Mathematician and Philosopher Essay1855 Words   |  8 PagesRene Descartes: An Author Study Rene Descartes was a 17th Century mathematician and French Philosopher whose lifes work focused on providing a new prospective on the human perception of reality. The definition of this reality is seen as Descartes greatest life goal. Coined as the Father of Modern Philosophy, (Cunningham Reich, 2010, p. 385), Descartes laid the groundwork the philosophy and reality as we perceive it today. Descartes autobiography, Discourse on the Method of Rightly ConductingRead MoreEssay about Rene Descartes Faith and Reason1292 Words   |  6 PagesRene Descartes Faith and Reason The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed a colossal transition in the scientific view of the universe. During this period a profound rethinking of scientific theory as well as moral and religious matters took place. Traditional ideas were reconsidered by religious thinkers. Philosophers began applying rational scientific thought to problems that they considered. The main concept of the Scientific Revolution was to question everything. The ScientificRead MoreThe Life of Rene’ Descartes: His Works and His Beliefs in God1578 Words   |  7 PagesWas Rene’ Descartes just a visionary of truth, mathematical equations or was he truly a man that knew he was born to tell the world about life, knowledge, and how it all came together metaphorically? Please see the research on Rene’ Descartes cited accomplishments. Descartes was known as the first modern philosopher. Famous for making a connection between geometry and algebra, which allowed for solving of geometrical problem by way of algebraic equations, which promoted a new conception of matterRead MoreEssay on The Scientific Revolution and The Enlightenment1731 Words   |  7 PagesThe Scientific revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries changed the way that people views the world. Scientific philosophers such as Galileo and Descartes threw out the old teachings of the church and challenged them with new ways of thinking. These men sought to prove that rational thought could prove the existence of God. They also challenged that it was an understanding of a series of rational thoughts, not faith, would bring understanding of how the world worked. Traditional ways of thinkingRead MoreOn My Way670 Words   |  3 PagesRenà © Descartes was a famous French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher. He was arguably known as the Father of Mode rn Philosophy. Descartes published many works of mathematics and philosophy throughout his life. In one of his most important works, Meditations on First Philosophy, he added a number of arguments for and against skepticism. Skepticism is the doubt about the truth of something and that absolute knowledge is not possible. Like past famous philosophers before him, Plato and ParmenidesRead More Descartes And Hume Essay545 Words   |  3 Pagesparadigm for philosophers shifted from faith to reason and finally settling on the senses. Thinkers began to challenge authorities, including great teachers such as Aristotle and Plato, and through skepticism the modern world began. The French philosopher, Renà © Descartes who implemented reason to find truth, as well as the British empiricist David Hume with his usage of analytic-synthetic distinction, most effectively utilized the practices of skepticism in the modern world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Renà © Descartes was theRead MoreThe Influence of Rationalism on the French Revolution1509 Words   |  7 PagesApril 2013 The Influence of Rationalism on the French Revolution What was the driving force behind the French Revolution? Many people may say it was financial, or political, and while I would agree that these things were part of the force that propelled the French Revolution, I would assert that the philosophies of the Enlightenment were the dominant force that blasted late eighteenth century France into revolution . In his article, â€Å"The French Revolution: Ideas and Ideologies â€Å"Maurice CranstonRead Moresituation in ethic Essay1383 Words   |  6 Pagesreality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind and language.The influences of philosophy and physiology are discover by ancient Greeks such as Aristotle and Plato. In the seventeenth century, Rene Descartes suggested the concept of dualism in which the mind and body exist as two separate entities. Descartes believed that the interaction between mind and body created the experience of reality. Physiology and Philosophy is established under school of psychology and as science separat e philosophy theRead MoreThe Theory Of The Mind Body Dualism1232 Words   |  5 PagesRenà © Descartes was a French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher of the 16th Century, who, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, â€Å"was one of the first to abandon scholastic Aristotelianism and created the first version of the modern mind-body dualism or emotion† (Encyclopedia Britannica). Born on March 31, 1596, he was dubbed as the Father of Modern Philosophy. His theory on the mind-body dualism, also known as Cartesian Dualism, created a stem of the modern problem of the relationship betweenRead MorePropelling Rational Thought Over Compelling Empiricism1459 Words   |  6 Pages In this paper I intend to examine the rationalist philosophy of Rene Descartes and fundamental empiricism of John Locke’s philosophical arguments, in particular their ideas relating to the science of man, his identity and attempt to explain distinctions between the two. As I lay the framework of my argument it is important to understand the precepts that serve as the underpinning for the views considered by Descartes and Locke respectively. Rationalism and empiricism are two modes of thought