Vanessa on Descartes

René Descartes (born March 31, 1596—died February 11, 1650) (Vanessa Gibson)

            According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Descartes was "a creative mathematician of the first order, an important scientific thinker, and an original metaphysician." Those being listed in chronological order. Although surrounded by Aristotelian frameworks in his fields, Descartes was a skeptic—one who was not afraid to desert tradition. In fact, it was his life's mission "to reform all knowledge," (Hatfield).

            Mathematics was Descartes first passion and perhaps his greatest interest. As a mathematician, he developed equations and systems such as the Cartesian coordinates, which, among other contributions, would later evolve into analytic geometry. In the "natural philosophy," or science department, he is credited with several large achievements that would push forward modern science, some of such achievements were his studies of the universe, the components of matter, and how light is reflected and refracted. In metaphysics, which, for Descartes, was not entirely separate from physics, his most notable and long-lasting theory was what we today call "mind-body dualism," but in the 17th century, for Descartes, it was more of a distinction. He claimed that "the nature of the mind (a thinking, non-extended thing) is completely different from that of the body (an extended, non-thinking thing), and therefore it is possible for one to exist without the other." He did not mean that they do exist without the other, only that they could, because they are separate and completely different substances (Skirry, "Mind-Body"). Related to this, is Descartes extremely well-known reasoning—originally written in French as "Je pense, donc je suis," and most famous for its Latin phrasing "Cogito, ergo sum." We know it in English as "I think, therefore I am;" and that because we can say that "I exist," it is an absolute certainty that we do exist.

Sources:

"Descartes, René: Major Contributions to Science." Infoplease. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia 6th ed. and Columbia University Press, 2012,     www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/people/religion-phil/philosophy/descartes-rene/major-            contributions-to-science. Accessed 31 Jan. 2019.

Hatfield, Gary. "René Descartes." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Metaphysics            Research Lab and Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI) and      Stanford University, first published 3 Dec, 2008; substantive revision 16 Jan, 2014.        plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/. Accessed 31 Jan. 2019.

Skirry, Justin. "René Descartes (1596-1650)." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Internet             Encyclopedia of Philosophy. www.iep.utm.edu/descarte/. Accessed 31 Jan. 2019.

Skirry, Justin. "René Descartes: The Mind-Body Distinction." Internet Encyclopedia of    Philosophy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. www.iep.utm.edu/descmind/#H5.       Accessed 31 Jan. 2019.

Watson, A. Richard. "René Descartes: French Mathematician and Philosopher." Britannica.             Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., last revised 20 Dec. 2018.    www.britannica.com/biography/Rene-Descartes. Accessed 31 Jan. 2019.

Photos:

            (1) Portrait photo provided by Science Source

            (2) [Collection of nine images including astronomical instruments, celestial charts, and a world map] contributed by an article written by James Ferguson for The Gentleman's   Magazine, March 1769.