René Descartes (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650: 58) was a French-born philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. He laid the foundation for 17th-century continental rationalism, later advocated by Spinoza and Leibniz. He is credited as the father of analytical geometry.
About René Descartes in brief
René Descartes (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650: 58) was a French-born philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. One of the most notable intellectual figures of the Dutch Golden Age. He laid the foundation for 17th-century continental rationalism, later advocated by Spinoza and Leibniz. He is credited as the father of analytical geometry, the bridge between algebra and geometry used in the discovery of infinitesimal calculus and analysis. His best known philosophical statement is \”cogito, ergo sum\” His influence in mathematics is equally apparent; the Cartesian coordinate system was named after him. He was also one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution. He died in Paris in 1650 and is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France. His son, Joachim, was a member of the Parlement of Brittany at Rennes and later a judge in the Court of Appeal of Paris. He also served as a military officer in the Dutch States Army of Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange and the Stadtholder of the United Provinces. In 1607, late because of his fragile health, he entered the Jesuit Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand at La Flèche, where he was introduced to mathematics and physics, including Galileo’s work. After graduation in 1614, he studied for years at the University of Poitou, earning a Baccalauré and Licence in civil law, in accordance with canon and civil law. He abandoned the study of letters to become a professional officer, and in 1616 he moved to Paris.
In his Discourse on the Method, he recalls that he abandoned letters entirely to seek knowledge other than that of which could be found in himself or else in the great world of the book. He wrote on emotions as if no one had written on these matters before. He rejected the splitting of corporeal substance into matter and form; second, he rejected any appeal to final ends, divine or natural, in explaining natural phenomena. His theology, he insists on the absolute freedom of God’s act of creation. He often set his views apart from the philosophers who preceded him, and is largely seen as responsible for the increased attention given to epistemology in the 17th century. His Meditations on First Philosophy continues to be a standard text at most university philosophy departments. It was the 17-century arch-rationalists who have given the \”Age of Reason\” its name and place in history. He had a profound influence on modern Western thought in general, with the birth of two influential rationalistic philosophical systems – namely Cartesianism and Spinozism – namelyCartesianism. His work was also influential in mathematics as well as philosophy, and he contributed greatly to science as well. His works have been published in several languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Spanish.
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