Who is René Descartes and why is he important?

René Descartes. René Descartes, (born March 31, 1596, La Haye, Touraine, France—died February 11, 1650, Stockholm, Sweden), French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher. Because he was one of the first to abandon scholastic Aristotelianism, because he formulated the first modern version of mind-body dualism,…

Did Rene Descartes become a lawyer or engineer?

Rather than becoming a lawyer, however, Descartes went traveling for about two years, including spending some time in Paris. He joined the Dutch States Army in Breda in 1618 and began studying engineering in a military academy. He soon met the Dutch scientist and philosopher Isaac Beeckman.

What did Rene Descartes learn from Galileo Galilei?

What did Rene Descartes learn from Galileo Galilei?
In 1633, just as he was about to publish The World (1664), Descartes learned that the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) had been condemned in Rome for publishing the view that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

What is Descartes a priori knowledge?

What is Descartes a priori knowledge?
Descartes is usually portrayed as one who defends and uses an a priori method to discover infallible knowledge, a method rooted in a doctrine of innate ideas that yields an intellectual knowledge of the essences of the things with which we are acquainted in our sensible experience of the world.

Does Descartes have a special method of doubt?

Descartes claimed early on to possess a special method, which was variously exhibited in mathematics, natural philosophy, and metaphysics, and which, in the latter part of his life, included, or was supplemented by, a method of doubt.

Is Descartes a rationalist or an empiricist?

Descartes's metaphysics is rationalist, based on the postulation of innate ideas of mind, matter, and God, but his physics and physiology, based on sensory experience, are mechanistic and empiricist.

How did Rene Descartes daughter die?

How did Rene Descartes daughter die?
He had planned to have the little girl educated in France, having arranged for her to live with relatives, but she died of a fever at age 5. Descartes lived in the Netherlands for more than 20 years but died in Stockholm, Sweden, on February 11, 1650.

What did Descartes mean by I think therefore I am?

What did Descartes mean by I think therefore I am?
This approach incorporated the contemplation of the nature of existence and of knowledge itself, hence his most famous observation, "I think; therefore I am." Descartes was born on March 31, 1596, in La Haye en Touraine, a small town in central France, which has since been renamed after him to honor its most famous son.

Where is Rene Descartes buried in Sweden?

Sweden was a Protestant country, so Descartes, a Catholic, was buried in a graveyard primarily for unbaptized babies. Later, his remains were taken to the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the oldest church in Paris.