Vita:
Born: 1596 (France)
Educated: Jesuit college; Paris
served in Dutch and Bavarian military
1629: went to Holland (more tolerant)
1646/49: became court philosopher for Queen Christina of Sweden (and her tutor in philosophy, mathematics, and science)
1650: died
Opera:
Rules for the Direction of the Mind (French, 1628, unpublished)
Le Monde (not published in light of the condemnation of Galileo in 1632)
Le Discours (French: 1637: for the masses) as preface to: Optics, Meteorology, and Geometry
Dissertatio de Methodo (Latin translation: 1644)
Meditationes de Prima Philosophia (1641, in Latin, dedicated to the faculty of the Sorbonne, the divinity school of the University of Paris);
(French translation: Duc de Luynes 1642)
2nd revised edition: 1642 Significance:
“Founder of modern philosophy” (rejected scholasticism in favor of the power of individual reasoning; deductive)
Believed that faith and reason could be reconciled
Developed coordinate geometry including “Cartesian” (named for him) coordinate system (x,y axes, positive quadrant only); analytic geometry
Contributions in optics (including the wave theory of light and mathematical relations)
influenced Newton and Leibniz
Bibliography
Biography and summary of works and philosophy: (The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Discourse on Method/Dissertation de Methodo . . .:
(Latin text) Oeuvres de Descartes, vol. 6: Discours de la Methode. J. Vrin. Paris: Librairie Philosophique. 1965 Descartes, Rene.
Discourse on Method and Meditations. New York: MacMillan, 1960. English translation. Meditations: Oeuvres de Descartes, vol. 7. J. Vrin. Paris: Librairie Philosophique. 1973 on-line: The Latin Library(posted by David B. Manley and Charles S. Taylor at The Philosophy Department of Wright State University from the original Latin text of 1641)
Born: 1596 (France)
Educated: Jesuit college; Paris
served in Dutch and Bavarian military
1629: went to Holland (more tolerant)
1646/49: became court philosopher for Queen Christina of Sweden (and her tutor in philosophy, mathematics, and science)
1650: died
Opera:
Rules for the Direction of the Mind (French, 1628, unpublished)
Le Monde (not published in light of the condemnation of Galileo in 1632)
Le Discours (French: 1637: for the masses) as preface to: Optics, Meteorology, and Geometry
Dissertatio de Methodo (Latin translation: 1644)
Meditationes de Prima Philosophia (1641, in Latin, dedicated to the faculty of the Sorbonne, the divinity school of the University of Paris);
(French translation: Duc de Luynes 1642)
2nd revised edition: 1642 Significance:
“Founder of modern philosophy” (rejected scholasticism in favor of the power of individual reasoning; deductive)
Believed that faith and reason could be reconciled
Developed coordinate geometry including “Cartesian” (named for him) coordinate system (x,y axes, positive quadrant only); analytic geometry
Contributions in optics (including the wave theory of light and mathematical relations)
influenced Newton and Leibniz
Bibliography
Biography and summary of works and philosophy: (The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Discourse on Method/Dissertation de Methodo . . .:
(Latin text) Oeuvres de Descartes, vol. 6: Discours de la Methode. J. Vrin. Paris: Librairie Philosophique. 1965 Descartes, Rene.
Discourse on Method and Meditations. New York: MacMillan, 1960. English translation. Meditations: Oeuvres de Descartes, vol. 7. J. Vrin. Paris: Librairie Philosophique. 1973 on-line: The Latin Library(posted by David B. Manley and Charles S. Taylor at The Philosophy Department of Wright State University from the original Latin text of 1641)