1. René Descartes

2. Early Life Born in France in 1596.
Family later granted lowest rank of French nobility
Rene was sickly as a child- suffering from an infirmity of the lungs (possibly tuberculosis)
His father Joachim was Counsellor at the Parliament of Brittany, not a nobleman, but the family was later granted the title of chevalrie (the lowest rank of French nobility).
His mother Jeanne died in childbirth just one year after Descartes was born- he believed his birth killed her.

3. Education
Studied classics, logic, and Aristotelian philosophy and mathematics from the books of Clavius ( )
Maintained the importance of separating reason and faith
Obtained a degree in law from Poiter in 1616
At the age of eight years he entered the Jesuit college La Flèche in Anjou. He studied classics, logic, and Aristotelian philosophy and mathematics from the books of Clavius. ( )
On account of his fragile health he was allowed the privilege of sleeping until 11 o'clock every morning, a habit he kept for his entire life.
Despite his Jesuit education, Descartes would maintain the importance of separating reason and faith.
Descartes later obtained a degree in law from Poiter in 1616

4. Jesuit College at La Fleche

5. Awakening In 1618 he enlisted in the Dutch military
In 1619 Descartes had dreams that were a landmark moment
From 1620 to 1628 Descartes traveled through Europe
In 1618 he enlisted in the Dutch military under Prince Maurice of Nassau, which was family tradition.
November 10th and 11th (possibly) 1619, Descartes had dreams that were a landmark moment for him, when he decided to devote his life to cultivating reason and advancing the knowledge of truth.
From 1620 to 1628 Descartes traveled through Europe. During this time he met many who would keep him connected to educational communities and encourage him to develop his philosophy.

6. Descartes’s Influences
Isaac Beeckman: (top), Cardinal Pierre de Barulle: (left), and Marin Mersenne: (right)
Isaac Beeckman
Cardinal Pierre de Barulle
Marin Marsenne

7. Early Publications
Descartes left France for Holland and started Rules for the Direction of Mind (1628)
Method for engaging with science and rational theology
A treatise concerning the existence of God and our souls (when separate from our bodies) in 1629
Foundation for physics.
Studied anatomy while working on Le Monde (The World), which outlined a strictly physical and mechanical understanding of life in the world
Galileo’s trial and house arrest
In 1628 Descartes left France for Holland
started Rules for the Direction of Mind, his first major philosophical treatise. This work discusses the proper method for engaging with science and rational theology.
In 1629 He worked on a treatise concerning the existence of God and our souls (when separate from our bodies).
He also believed he knew what he needed for the foundation of physics.
Studied anatomy and focused primarily on the sciences, while working on Le Monde (The World), which outlined a strictly physical and mechanical understanding of life in the world.
When hearing of Galileo’s trial and house arrest, he considered burning his work, but rather abandoned Le Monde.

8. Letter to Marsenne
"I was so astonished that I almost decided to burn all of my papers or at least to let no one see them. For I could not imagine that he – an Italian and, as I understand, in the good graces of the Pope – could have been made a criminal for any other reason than that he tried, as he no doubt did, to establish that the earth moves. I know that some Cardinals had already censured this view, but I thought that I had heard it said that all the same it was being taught publicly even in Rome. I must admit that if the view is false, so too are the entire foundations of my philosophy, for it can be demonstrated from them quite clearly. And it is so closely interwoven in every part of my treatise that I could not remove it without rendering the whole work defective. But for all the world I did not want to publish a discourse in which a single word could be found that the Church would have disapproved of; so I preferred to suppress it rather than to publish it in a mutilated form. I have never had an inclination to produce books, and would never have completed it if I had not been bound by a promise to you and some of my other friends; it was my desire to keep my word to you that constrained me all the more to work at it. But after all I am sure that you will not send a bailiff to force me to discharge my debt, and you will perhaps be quite glad to be relieved of the trouble of reading wicked doctrines." (Letter to Mersenne, November 1633)

9. Publications
In Discourse Descartes insists on the use of deductive reasoning, countering Francis Bacon's induction as introduced in Novum Organum.
Made contributions to mathematics and physics
Analytic geometry
Cartesian Coordinates system.
In Discourse Descartes insists on the use of deductive reasoning, countering Francis Bacon's induction as introduced in Novum Organum.
The work from these years forms the basis of some of Descartes most important contributions to mathematics and physics, including the introduction of what is now known as analytic geometry.
He also is responsible for the invention of the Cartesian Coordinates system.

10. Publications He expanded on metaphysical themes (1640)
Mind and body are distinct substances
Humans essential attributes are exclusively of the spirit (i.e. thinking, willing, conceiving).
The human spirit occupies a mechanical body
Attributes like sense perception, movement, and appetite are of the body rather than the spirit
In 1640 Descartes expanded on metaphysical themes in Meditations on the First Philosophy: In Which the Existence of God and the Distinction Between Mind and Body are Demonstrated. (Latin 1641, French 1642)
He argues that the mind and body are distinct substances
Humans are spirits, and their essential attributes are exclusively of the spirit (i.e. thinking, willing, conceiving).
The human spirit occupies a mechanical body, made up of extended substance.
Attributes like sense perception, movement, and appetite are of the body and not the spirit, so they do not comprise human essence.

11. Publications
Principia Philosophiae (Published in Amsterdam in 1644), a study of mechanics, developed a mathematical foundation of the universe
Concentrates on laws of motion and theory of vortices
French court granted Descartes a pension to honor this work (1647)

12. Descartes’s Death
In 1649 Descartes moved to Stockholm to tutor Queen Christina in philosophy.
1650 Death due to her rigorous study schedule
The Queen desired to begin her studies at 5 A.M., and Descartes was unaccustomed to working at this early hour. The work, combined with the harsh climate, had ill effects on Descartes' health He died of pneumonia in 1650.

13. Descartes’s Skepticism
Hyperbolic doubt
The refusal to accept either the authority of previous philosophers or information gleaned from one's own senses.
Anything that might be doubted must be rejected.
Only what is beyond doubt is acceptable for TRUTH
All that remains is the fact of doubting itself, ergo the doubting philosopher
All that remains is the fact of doubting itself, and that something must exist to doubt, the philosopher himself.

14. Descartes and the Church
Rejected the Aristotelian and Scholastic
Rejected religious influence in his scientific and philosophical studies.
Condemned by the Catholic Church, (prohibited in 1663), yet he remained a devout Catholic.
Reason as the foundation and guide in the pursuit of truth
Descartes always refused the Aristotelian and Scholastic traditions that had been the dominant shape of philosophy throughout the Medieval times, and he rejected religious influence in his scientific and philosophical studies.
Throughout and after his life, his work was condemned by the Catholic Church, (prohibited in 1663), despite the fact that Descartes remained a devout Catholic.
He saw reason as the foundation and guide in the pursuit of truth, and he was relentless in his search for absolute certainty.

15. Legacy
Sought to change the relationship between philosophy and theology.
Wanted to create a form of philosophical argument akin to science or mathematics
Influential to philosophers throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, especially to the Philosophes:
see next two slides for those he influenced
Sought to change the relationship between philosophy and theology.
He is respected for his attempts to create a form of philosophical argument akin to science or mathematics and his emphasis on perspective of consciousness
Descartes has been influential to philosophers throughout the 17th and 18th centuries
Especially to the Philosophes: 18th-century French thinkers who were united, in spite of divergent personal views, in their conviction of the supremacy and efficacy of human reason.
see next two slides for those he influenced

16. Philosophers
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (top left), Nicolas Malebranche (top right), John Locke (bottom right), and Baruch Spinoza (bottom left),

17. Philosophes
Denis Diderot (top left), Montesquieu (top right), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (bottom right), and Voltaire (bottom left).

18. Works Cited http://www.egs.edu/library/rene-descartes/biography