Rene Descartes & Faith and Reason

Rene Descartes & Faith and Reason

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed a colossal transition in the scientific view of the universe. During this period a profound rethinking of scientific theory as well as moral and religious matters took place. Traditional ideas were reconsidered by religious thinkers. Philosophers began applying rational scientific thought to problems that they considered. The main concept of the Scientific Revolution was to "question everything". The Scientific Revolution was an elaborate movement. Many brilliant people with a wealth of new ideas contributed to this movement. The French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist Rene Descartes was one of these people.

Rene Descartes was born March 31, 1596 in Touraine, France. He was born to a mother who, at the time, had tuberculosis and died of it a year later. As a result of his mother's condition, Rene was very frail and suffered from dry coughs all of his life. Rene’s father, Joachim Descartes, was an established lawyer as well as a councilor of the parliament in Rennes 1.

Descartes was educated at the Jesuit school of La Flèche in Anjou. He enrolled in the college at the tender age of eight years. During his eight years there, his passion for learning burned brightly. He over-achieved in all of his studies, especially in mathematics and physics. Descartes also received a proficient education in classical languages, literature, and traditional Aristotelian philosophy. Because of his fragile condition he was granted permission to remain in bed until 12 o'clock noon, rather than being awakened at dawn as the other students were. To be sure he didn't rouse too late, Descartes woke himself early and then spent the morning reading, taki...

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...eived analytic geometry and established the Cartesian curves and Cartesian coordinates. To algebra he contributed the convention of exponent notation and the treatment of negative roots. Perhaps no other intellectual movement was more significant for the future of European and western civilization.

Footnotes

1. Cottingham, John. Descartes. New York: Basil Blackwell, 1986.

2. Same as 1

3. Same as 1

4. Same as 1

5. Morgan, Vance G. Foundations of Cartesian Ethics. New Jersey: Humanities, 1994

6. Sorell, Tom. Descartes. Oxford: Oxford, 1987

7. Same as 6

Works Cited

- Cottingham, John. Reason, Will, and Sensation: Studies in Descartes’s Metaphysics.

Oxford: Clarendon, 1994.

- Jolley, Nicholas. The Light of the Soul. Oxford: Clarndon, 1990

- Tierno, Joel Thomas. Descartes on God and Human Error. New Jersey: Humanities, 1997