Essay On Rene Descartes

Father of modern philosophy and father of Francine Descartes; Rene Descartes was born in the small town of La Haye located in the south of France on March 31st, 1956. Rene Descartes belonged to an aristocratic family. He was the son of a council member in the provincial parliament who was named Joachim Descartes and his mother was Jeanne Brochard who unfortunately missed his success because she died while in labor with another son in the year 1957. Descartes had a total of four siblings: Pierre Descartes (brother), Jeanne Descartes (sister), Joachim Descartes (half-brother), and Anne Descartes (half-sister). His maternal grandmother, Jeanne Sain because of the loss of his mother, raised him and Rene Descartes grew up to be a well-known French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher.

Life for Rene Descartes was not simple as one may have thought. As previously mentioned, he lost his mother when he was only one year old and was raised by his maternal grandmother because his father remarried shortly after his mother’s death. Although highly intelligent and born to succeed, Descartes was unfortunately of very delicate health as a young boy; rumors have it that he may have had tuberculosis but then again, no one knows for sure. At the age of eight in the year 1606, Rene Descartes was sent to boarding school; Jesuit College of Henri IV located at La Flèche, by his father. It wasn’t until sometime in the year 1614 where he left the boarding school feeling as if he had no knowledge of anything; much like wise philosopher Socrates. After leaving Jesuit College of Henri IV, Rene Descartes went off to University of Poitiers where he obtained a law degree in the year 1616.

Rene Descartes never married but he did have a daughter nam...

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...moved to Stockholm, Sweden after living in Netherland for over 20 years and did so to please Queen Christina and be her tutor in philosophy. Not only did Descartes leave the comfort of his home at Queen Christina’s request, but he also changed his habit of enjoying his dreams to begin tutoring her at five in the morning. This worsened Descartes’s health and he then caught pneumonia which led to his unfortunate death. Rene Descartes died a single man at the age of 53 and was said to have been buried in a graveyard that was specifically meant for unbaptized babies (because he was Catholic). Although Rene Descartes passed away, he was what people call “left but never forgotten”. He changed the world he once lived in by improving the ways of mathematics, provided society with how philosophical way of thinking, and he became known as the father of modern philosophy!