Rene Descartes Father of Modern Philosophy Life and Background Rene Descartes was born in 1596, in Touraine.

As a child, he was sickly. He studied classics and philosophy at the Jesuit college of La Fleche. However, as a Catholic, he spent his life in Protestant Holland. In 1616, he gave up studies and joined the army. He died of pneumonia on February 11, 1650. He believed that he had a call to Philosophy. He trusted experiment rather than learning, but more than either he trusted his own philosophical reflections. He had the privilege of setting out the truth about man and his universe for the very first time.

Works and Contributions Laid the foundations of analytical geometry: the Cartesian coordinates. Propounded the law of sines. Worked on meteorology. The World (1632) it was not published. It is a substantial volume explaining the nature of light as emitted by the heavens (celestial bodies) and reflected by planets, the earth and other terrestrial bodies. Discourse on Method (1637) presented a summary of Descartes philosophical system and scientific method. Two key ideas: (1) human beings are thinking substances, (2) matter is extension in motion Method of systematic doubt to prevent being ensnared in falsehood, the philosopher must begin by doubting whatever can be doubted; I think, therefore I am (Cogito, ergo sum). Meditations (1641) contains a full statement of the system shown in the Discourse. Principles of Philosophy (1644) summary of the metaphysics in Meditations, also deals with physical science. Treatise on the Passions (1649) contains Descartes ethical system resembling ancient stoicism.

Knowledge Our senses sometimes deceive us. Dreams are printed representations of real objects. Sciences such as arithmetic and geometry are trustworthy sources of knowledge. Even mathematics can be doubted, just so we know an evil spirit may be giving us mathematical illusions. Cogito, ergo sum as the rock on which Descartes epistemology is built, from which he derives other truths and rebuilds science.

Physics Descartes physical system is mechanistic it assumes that all natural phenomena can be explained by the motion of geometrical matter. The essence of matter is extension (quantity), excluding qualities of material objects. Material properties, except extension and motion, are perceived by only a single sense.

He denied the notion of his scholastic predecessors that there are real substances. If there are any, he says, they would be specially created by God from moment to moment. Nature can be explained in terms of motion and extension alone. There cannot be any empty space or vacuum, and the only possible movement of bodies is ultimately circular. In the beginning, God created matter along with motion and rest. Law of Inertia.

Metaphysics Took over many of the technical terms of Aristotelian and scholastic metaphysics. Mathematical and logical truths as creatures, distinct from God, brought into existence from all eternity by his creative power. They are prior to and independent of any human mind; they are dependent and distinct from the mind of God. Essences are nothing but eternal truths.

Ethics Laws are better if devised by a single legislator in a single code. Descartes ethical system in his Treatise on the Passions resembles ancient stoicism. Stressed the role of reason in the moderation of the passions. The passion whose description brings out most fully Descartes moral ideals is the passion of generosite. The genereux is the perfect gentleman.

God Descartes refashioned the traditional concept of creation there is no distinction between creation and conservation: at each moment I am created anew by God. God as the principle guaranteeing that what we see clearly and distinctly is true. Two proofs for Gods existence: 1) I have an idea of a perfect being, and this idea cannot be caused in me by anything less than a perfect being, hence a perfect being causing this idea must exist. 2) To be perfect, a being must include in itself all perfections; but existence is a perception, and therefore a perfect being must exist.

Critique His notion of the world being mechanistic and Gods creation/conservation is contradictory. His methodic doubt would be a great and solid foundation for knowledge. If mathematics can be doubted, then there is no need to use it as a means in attaining truth. How can an evil spirit make doubtful something true (mathematics) when, in the first place, if we speak of truth it is characteristic of God? Separation of body and soul does not agree on experience. It seems that for Descartes, passions are evil in nature. He revived stoicism and the ontological argument for Gods existence however, the ontological argument, as Kant would later criticize, jumps from logical to ontological. As a catholic, his concept of Gods conservation somehow deviates from Catholic teachings on creation.