Rene Descartes
The philosopher I chose was Rene Descartes, he was more than just a philosopher. He was also a scientist and a mathematician, this man was truly the first of his kind. He was born on March 31, 1596 in La Haye which is near Tours. After his child hood he attended the Jesit College of La Fleche between 1606 and 1614. Then he went on to become a doctor of law at the University of Poitiers. At this point he joined a chorus of other philosophers such as Bacon, Hobbes and Locke. Descartes, then went on to serve in the army of Prince Maurice of Nassau. Then his life took a sudden turn, on November 10, 1619 Descartes had a dream of a unified scientific system all based on mathematics. His first work published was Rules for the Direction of Mind, while this was written in 1628 it was not published until 1701. This work basically talked about his ideas of method. This work said that he had made many discoveries by taking in results in the order they were presented to him. He thought that the use of method would help aid in advancements in science. Descartes then made himself known for the first time while in Paris. He confronted Chandoux, who was claiming that science could on
From these thoughts Descartes developed the famous saying "cogito ergo sum"(I think therefore I am). I think that this can be interpreted in many ways, although from my point of view I see it as truth. When you can think and you are functioning you are living. Meaning that you do exist in some form and that you are present. I think that this is a very remarkable quote, because it makes every living being that can think feel special. If you think you are part of the whole that exists around us, I truly believe in this quote because I am here writing this paper. Another thing that Descartes believed in was Cartesian Dualism, meaning that there are two types of entities, mind and matter. I think that this is truly interesting, because of the fact of computers. Descartes said that because something was matter it could not think and only minds could think. This remained true although with modern society we have created matter that can think. Computers are metal and wires that can think artificially. This basically questions a lot of Descartes ideas, because it proves that their can be matter that thinks. Descartes believed that in philosophy and mathematics certainty is found through understanding. This means that if there is one person in a room and another in a room next to that person. Then there are two different people in two different rooms. He thought that mathematics goes past the senses, making up an entire mathematical order to the universe without senses. I think that this is very true because when you have a certain amount of things or certain numbers to add, you have mathematics
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Approximate Word count = 1095
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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