...René Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer of the 17th century. He was dissatisfied with the philosophy of his time which was dominated by scholastic philosophy, which sought to answer highly abstract philosophical questions mainly on the basis of Aristotle’s teachings. Descartes was dissatisfied with this kind of philosophy because he considered their highly abstract arguments senseless. Because of this dissatisfaction, Descartes tried to create a whole new system of thought that would unify all knowledge. As a result, René Descartes has been dubbed the “Father of Modern Philosophy”. René Descartes is the man credited to the famous dictum, Cogito Ergo Sum which translates to “I think, therefore I am”. Can one really prove that something, anything exists by this? I would like to believe that the cogito phrase holds an absolute truth. Come to think of this, if you’re even having these profound thoughts of questioning whether anything exists or not, if you even really care about purpose, the meaning, existence, why you are here or if you are real, can’t you then establish that you exist? Just by the mere fact that you are doing the process of examining yourself, you inside know that you are a complex creature, you truly do exists. If you’re looking at questions of self purpose and meaning and the existence of God, none of it would make sense but for the fact that you exists. Only you and you alone can prove that you exist, and that proof is...
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...RENE DESCARTES’ METHODS OF DOUBT Introduction The theory of knowledge and analytical method advanced by the French philosopher Rene Descartes is often summed up in the famous phrase, Cogito ergo sum- “I think, therefore I am.” While this phrase does express the final step in his systematic process of “doubting everything,” it is a gross over-simplification of Descartes’ methods. Descartes did use systematic doubt to find the starting point for his theory of knowledge, but his other philosophical inquiries involved several different methods of doubting, from simply imagining that which is contradictory, to carrying logical postulates to absurd conclusions, to the more traditional methods of testing syllogisms and analyzing proofs. In this essay, I will examine Rene Descartes’ various methods of doubt, to show that the philosopher did not rely on the single reductio ad absurdum in his famous proof of his own existence. Descartes, as we will see, employed several different approaches to philosophical proofs, and he was not the mechanistic logician that his mathematical background might suggest. It will be the argument of this essay that Descartes applied different methods of doubt to different problems, depending upon whether the problem was epistemological, scientific or theological in nature. Existential Doubt: Do I Exist? The first and best-known method of doubt employed by Descartes involves reductionism, in the sense that he used a negative or reverse logical path...
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...Rene Descartes When the term modern philosophy is mentioned, it is usually to make a distinction from ancient and medieval philosophy therefore it does not only mean the philosophy of the 21st century, it means, the philosopher Rene Descartes. Therefore in practice what the term, modern philosophy means is, philosophy from Descartes onwards. He was best known for his quote, ‘Cogito ergo sum’ (I think, therefore I am). Descartes was born on March 31st 1596, in La Haye, a small town in France. He was educated in classics, logic and the philosophy of Aristotle at the Jesuit college of Henri IV in La Fleche. After he graduated he studied at the University of Poitiers, obtaining his law license in 1616. He then joined the army and during his spare time he studied mathematics (Gaukroger and Hall, 1995). In 1619, he experienced the series of powerful dreams, which influenced him greatly in his pursuit of science and knowledge, and he acknowledged this ass his focal point of his life (Gaukroger and Hall, 1995). Descartes spent time in various parts of Europe before he settled in Dutch Republic. He maintained his studies and lived in various places throughout the Republic. During this time, he began his writing career, and he started to publish his new works that would revolutionize mathematics and philosophy, these works included the world, meditation of first philosophy, principles of philosophy and passions of the soul. His mathematical theories provided the basis for the...
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...College Algebra 1414 March 25, 2008 Rene Descartes René Descartes was a highly influential French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer. He has been dubbed the "Father of Modern Philosophy" and the "Father of Modern Mathematics."But famous for his saying, "Cogito ergo sum - I think, therefore I am," which is used in Philosphy. 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. 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. One of Descartes most enduring legacies was his development of Cartesian geometry, the algebraic system taught in schools today. He also created exponential notation, indicated by numbers written in what is now referred to as superscript (x²). Descartes was born in La Haye en Touraine, Indre-et-Loire, France. When he was one year old, his mother Jeanne Brochard died of tuberculosis. His father Joachim was a judge in the High Court of Justice. At the age of eleven, he entered the Jesuit College Royal Henry-Le-Grand at La Fleche. After graduation, he studied at the University of Poitiers, earning a Baccalaureat and License in law in 1616, in accordance with his father's wishes that he should become a lawyer. Descartes never actually practiced law, however...
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...Rene Descartes Rene Descartes (1596-1650) is generally considered to be one of the most influential Philosophers of the modern Western world. He has been called the founder of modern philosophy. Descartes was the first man of any influence in philosophy to be interested and affected by physics and astronomy. He also refused to accept the views of his predecessors, preferring to work out everything for himself. He was the first man to attempt this since Aristotle. There was freshness about his work that had not been seen from any philosopher since Plato. To begin by doubting everything was the necessary first step in order to sweep away all past presumptions and eliminate all issues that were confusing human knowledge. He also isolated only those truths he himself could directly experience and substantiate. This approach of questioning and skeptical nature meant that Descartes was able to make breakthroughs in philosophy not available to earlier philosophers who had accepted other people’s views as true. The existence of God has been a question since the idea of God was conceived. Rene Descartes tries to prove God's existence, and to show that there is without a doubt something external to ones own existence. He is looking for a definite certainty, a foundation for which he can base all of his beliefs and know that they are true. Descartes' overall project is to find a definite certainty on which he can base all his knowledge and beliefs. I totally agree with Descartes...
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...Thought “Cogito ergo sum” uttered by the man who is referred to as the “Father of Modern Philosophy” translates to “I think, therefore I am.” Rene Descartes authored Discourse on the Method as well as Meditations on First Philosophy, a narrative that explores the concepts of the ideas he employs. Descartes regards the power of reasoning and concrete sensations as more rational than that of gathering knowledge based on faith. After meditating upon this philosophical notion, Descartes’ argument has the power to provide hypothetical evidence towards the existence of a higher being, a.k.a. God. By observing the patterns of Descartes’ arguments regarding the method of gathering knowledge, one...
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...Rene Descartes “I think, therefore I am” is one of the most well-known statements by Rene Descartes. Descartes was a French philosopher and mathematician of the Renaissance. The Renaissance was period of time the emphasised the importance of education. Humanism, the study of classical texts to help understand your own time was developed during this era. The renaissance encouraged exploration of the New World, and many scientific discoveries were made at that time. Descartes was an influential man that would revolutionize the way of thinking for many Europeans with his contributions to the era. Descartes revolutionized the way of thinking for Europeans because of his invention of the Cartesian Coordinate, his work in optics, and his influence...
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...Dualism claims that reality is composed by the substances body and mind, whereas the body belongs to the physical world and the mind to the nonphysical world. Rene Descartes was a relevant defender of substance dualism, from his point of view, the body has a presence in the material space, meaning it exist and occupies the physical world while our thoughts and feelings exist in our mind and are not perceivable in the material or physical world. For Descartes, this two substances, material and immaterial "interact with each other at some point in the body", but are distinct objects because they have different properties. John Searle, on the side, recognizes the substance dualism from the supervenience theory, - even if sometimes he claims...
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...René Descartes was born on March 31, 1596. He was born in La Haye en Touraine, France. He was very educated. He first attended a boarding school at a Jesuit college at age eight. He then earned a law degree at age twenty-two, where he met a teacher that guided him into using math and logic to understand the natural world. René was the youngest of three children and his mother Jeanne Brochard died when he was just one year old. His father, Joachim, sent all the children to live with their grandmother, and they stayed with their grandmother for several years. Their dad got remarried. Although the kids stayed with their grandmother their father was still very concerned about their education. Descartes was a good student, although he didn’t have to follow the school's extremely strict schedule and was allowed to sleep in until...
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...“It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well, said Rene Descartes”. All throughout history there have been many remarkable minds, but as was stated by Descartes; it is not about how good the mind is, it is about how the mind is used. Descartes has always been regarded as a great philosopher; as a matter of fact, he is known as the father of modern philosophy. However, he was more than a philosopher. He was also a great mathematician and an eminent rationalist amid other things. Descartes has played as a major piece in the realms of mathematics, philosophy, and even science; therefore, he had a great impact in the course of history. Rene Descartes was born on March 31, 1596 in the small town of La Haye en Touraine, France. He was the youngest son of Joachim Descartes, his father who was a council member in the parliament, and Jeanne Brochard, his mother who sadly passed away within the first year of Descartes life. After the death of his wife; Joachim had his children live with their maternal grandmother. Joachim was very adamant about his children’s education. He wanted his children to get a good education and so he sent Rene to a boarding school. Rene was eight years old when he was sent to the boarding at the Jesuit college of Henri IV in La Fleche....
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...2014 Rene Descartes: Mediations on First Philosophy Rene Descartes, known as one of the most influential philosophers of his time, is famously quoted to have been proven the existence of himself with the infamous statement, Cogito ergo sum or (in English) I think, therefore I am. Rene Descartes has claimed to have proven his own existence in this world by claiming that he is in fact a thinking thing, and that therefore he must be something that exists. This raises the question, how can Descartes truly prove to us that in fact he thinks, and how can he prove that since he thinks he therefore can say that he exists? In this essay I will be explaining the reasoning’s of proof as to why Descartes says that he thinks and that therefore he exists, and I will give sufficient support as to why Rene Descartes is in fact correct about his claims that he has stated in his Philosophy of Mediations. The evidence that I will be providing in support for Descartes statement I think, therefore I am include, Descartes doubtfulness of all things he once believed to be true (which he says has been false lies to have been told to him all of his life) (A. w. Bailey, First Philosphy, Second Edition 26-28), secondly his three proofs for his skepticism mentioned in the first piece of evidence listed previously (Descartes asking if he is dreaming or if he is really awake, his painters argument of how dream like/ images arise from real things, and an evil like demon trying to trick Rene Descartes into...
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...not be how it actually is? Furthermore, how are we to know if the world we experience is nothing but an illusion itself and even more importantly, how do we know that we even exist in the first place? Seventeenth-century French philosopher Rene Descartes tried to examine and solve questions when he created the meditations in 1641. In this paper, I will look at why Descartes used the wax example and the objective it...
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...named René Descartes (pronounced "ray-NAY day-CART") came up with a way to put these two subjects together. Rene Descartes was born on March 31, 1596, in Touraine, France. He was entered into Jesuit College at the age of eight, where he studied for about eight years. Although he studied the classics, logic and philosophy, Descartes only found mathematics to be satisfactory in reaching the truth of the science of nature. He then received a law degree in 1616. Thereafter, Descartes chose to join the army and served from 1617-1621. Descartes resigned from the army and traveled extensively for five years. During this period, he continued studying pure mathematics. Finally, in 1628, he devoted his life to seeking the truth about the science of nature. At that point, he moved to Holland and remained there for twenty years, dedicating his time to philosophy and mathematics. During this time, Descartes had his work "Meditations on First Philosophy" published. It was in this work that he introduced the famous phrase "I think, therefore I am." Descartes hoped to use this statement to find truth by the use of reason. He sought to take complex ideas and break them down into simpler ones that were clear. Descartes believed that mathematics was the only thing that is certain or true. Therefore, it could be used to reason the complex ideas of the universe into simpler ideas that were true. In 1638, La Geometrie was published. This work was responsible for making Descartes famous...
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...Medicine 1 Age of Reason WH 2 Unit II 2 Age of Reason WH 2 Unit II Use of Reason (look it up) • Solves all problems (look at Kant “What is Enlightenment) • Provided new approaches to learning • Rationalism Two major schools of thought (at the time) • Inductive ◦ Roger Bacon • Deductive ◦ Rene Descartes 3 Age of Reason WH 2 Unit II Kinds of philosophies • Dualism ◦ Mind and Body are different ◦ Binary oppositions- Two fundamental principals for everything ▪ Not monism • Pantheism ◦ Promoted by Spinoza ▪ 'Deus sive Natura' (God or Nature) We are part of Nature as a whole whose order we follow... A substance cannot be produced from anything else : it will therefore be its own cause, that is, its essence necessarily involves existence, or existence appertains to the nature of it. (Spinoza, 1673) 4 Age of Reason WH 2 Unit II ▪ who also promoted the inferiority of women (see text or handout) • Empiricism ◦ I need to see it 5 Age of Reason WH 2 Unit II Major Philosophical Movements 1. Rationalism • Getting knowledge with thought primarily • Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza and Leibniz “I cannot forgive...
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...Compare and contrast the Matrix with the readings from Plato and Descartes. What are their similarities and differences? It is important to note that Plato, the Allegory of the Cave, the Matrix, and Rene Descartes all question the validity of our sense perception. Plato, Allegory of the Cave, picture men as prisoner dwelling in cave bound with chain and can only see the shadow on the wall and not able to move” ( Plato, The Republic, Book VII, 514AI-518D8 ). Descartes, “suppose we are dreaming, that all these particulars namely, the opening of the eyes, the motion of the head, the putting fourth of the hands or merely illusion” (Descartes, Meditation on First Philosophy, 1641). The Matrix, complain that computer system has taken over the entire human race and control their minds and keep their brain connected via cable” Synopsis, The Matrix, 1999). The two with the most differences and similarities are the Matrix and Allegory of the Cave. Both Plato, allegory of the Cave and Synopsis; the Matrix both told of stories that people were being deceived about the truth. They further states that people were living in a world where they experience an illusion or some kind of dream. As the story continues, I notice that both Plato and the Matrix believe they have justified reason to support their belief. This brought me back to an encounter Jesus had with Nicodemus the teacher of Israel, who wanted to know what he must do to be saved. Nicodemus asked Jesus, can a man enter his mother’s...
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