René Descartes By Ms. Grant

Descarte

Biological Information Born March 31, 1596 in LaHaye Father was a lawyer, mother died shortly after childbirth Attended the Royal College of LaFleche Not married, 1 daughter who died at the age of 5 Lived most of his life in France and Holland Died in 1649 in Sweden

Contributions to Psychology Began with his work in mathematics, physiology and was considered a “natural philosopher” During Descartes’ time humans were believed to consist of two distinct entities; the body and the “soul” Descarte was the first to clearly distinguish the soul as the mind, capable of consciousness and self-awareness. “I think, therefore I am”

Contributions to Psychology Descartes developed a thesis on “interactive dualism” which stated that the mind and body are separate but interact in the brain. This was the first time anyone had considered that the mind was capable of reasoning, deciding, and initiating voluntary action This led to investigation of concepts such as sensation, memory, and emotions as products of an actively working brain

Resources (and how to format them) Bradley (no date). Rene Descartes. Retreived from: http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/descartes.html Stanford Encyclopedia of Psychology (2014). Rene Descartes. Retreived from: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/ Skirry (n.d.). Rene Descartes: The Mind-Body Distinction. Retreived from: http://www.iep.utm.edu/descmind/#H5 Author (date). Title of webpage. Retreived from: http://someurl.com Author (date). Title of Chapter. Title of book or article.