René Descartes

From Philosophy Archive

Name: René Descartes
Region: Western Philosophy
Birth Date: 3rd March 1596

Biography

René Descartes is justifiably recognised as the founder of modern Western philosophy. Whilst still being rooted in scholastic tradition, his outlook (influenced by the 'new' science that was being discovered) threw away the restrictive casts of his predecessors. His overthrowal of the Aristotelean traditions allowed him to attempt to construct a new philosophy, independant of those before it.

Descartes inherited from his father, a councillor of the Parlement of Britanny, six estates which he sold to obtain a moderate income of about six thousand francs a year. After being educated, from 1604 to 1612, at the Jesuit college of La Fleche he went to Paris and then (on finding the social life boring) to a seculded retreat where he worked on Geometry. In 1617 he enlisted in the Dutch army, Holland being at peace at the time. However, at the coming of the Thirty Years War he enlisted in the Bavarian army, and it was in Bavaria during the windter of 1619 that he head the experience he describes in the Discours de la Méthode. The weather was so cold, he got into a stove, and wrote half of his philosophy before he came out!

He left the army in 1621, but returned to Holland in 1629, to enjoy the freedom of thought that was almost exclusive in Holland at that time. Despite his obvious Catholicism, Protestant bigots in Holland still atempted to persecute him, claiming his views led to atheism. The Prince of Orange had to protect him from the protestants, and correct the Univeristy of Leyden when it forbade all mention of Descartes! After living in Holland from 1629 to 1649 Descartes agreed to teach Queen Christina of Sweden. Unforunately for Descartes, she requested lessons at 5am (Descartes hated waking before noon, and detested the cold even more). Descartes fell ill (apparently after trying to sleep in an oven) and died in February, 1650.

Texts

Meditations on First Philosophy - Descartes

The mediations is Descarte's most famous text and dates from 1642. In it he questions what he can know without relying upon his senses. It is here he coins the famous axiom, "I think therefore I am".