Rene Descartes
Descartes never did a stroke of useful work in his life. At various times he
described himself as a solider, a mathematician, a thinker and a gentleman. The
last comes closest to describing his attitude toward life as well as his social
status. Descartes was indisputably the most original philosopher to appear in the
fifteen centuries following the death of Aristotle.
Rene Descartes was born March 31, 1596, in the small town of La Haye,
in the Creuse Valley thirty miles south of Tours, France. Rene was the fourth
child. Descartes spent a solitary childhood, accentuated by his sickly nature, and
he quickly learned to do without company. From his early years he is known to
have been introspective and reserved.
Rene Descartes was a foundationalist. Descartes is one of the most
important Western philosophers of the past few centuries. He became one of the
most important and influential thinkers in human history, and is sometimes called
the founder of modern philosophy. Descartes attempted to restart philosophy in
a fresh direction.
The two most widely known of Descartes' philosophy ideas are a method
of hyperbolic doubt and the argument that, though he may doubt, he cannot
doubt that he exists. In order for there to be doubting, there must be a doubter.
In order to think, there had to be a thinker. If I am being deceived, then surely "I"
must exist. This is known as cogito ergo sum, "I think, therefore I am."
Descartes concludes that he can be certain that he exists. Thinking is his
essence as it is th ...