Download - Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

French Rationalist philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer who spent most of his adult life in Holland.

1M. Torres History of Western

Philosophy. IES Campo San Alberto, Noia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frans_Hals_-_Portret_van_Ren%C3%A9_Descartes.jpg

Rationalism / Empiricism

Rationalism Empiricism

Knowledge Origin

Reason Experience

Best Method

Deduction Induction

Science’s Model

Math

M. Torres History of Western Philosophy. IES Campo San Alberto,

Noia2

Basic Ideas of Descartes’ Philosophy• Biography / Bibliography• Method’s problem• Rules of method• Applying method:

provisional morality.• Reality structure: dualism

of substances • Anthropology• Other Rationalists:

Leibniz, Spinoza, Malebranche


Noia3

http://www.fotolog.com

Biography.• 1596 : born at La Haye

near Tours, France• 1606-14 He attends Jesuit

College of La Fleche in Anjou, really good math teachers and he was a good talented math student.

• 1616 Descartes takes doctor of law at University of Poitiers

• 1618 He goes to Holland and joins the army of Prince Maurice of Nassau



• 1619 He travels in Germany; on 10 November in Ulm has dream of a unified scientific system based on mathematics

• 1622 He returns to France, during next few years spends time in Paris, but also travels in Europe

• 1628 (or 29) He composes Rules for the Direction of Mind



• 1628 Descartes distinguished himself in a confrontation with Chandoux, who claimed that all science is based on probability while Descartes claimed that only certainty could be the basis of human knowledge and that he had a method for attaining certainty.

• 1628 Descartes leaves for Holland which is to be his home until 1649 6


Noia

• 1633 The condemnation of Galileo leads Descartes to abandon

• 1635 The birth of Descartes daughter, named Francine

• 1637 Descartes publishes Discourse on Method, with Optics, Meterology and the Geometry

• 1642 Descartes meets Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia



• 1643 Cartesian philosophy condemned at the University of Utrecht

• 1644 Visits France.• 1647 Descartes is

awarded a pension by the King of France.

• 1649 He goes to Sweden on invitation of Queen Christina; the Passions of the Soul published

• 1650 11 February: dies in Stockholm



Bibliography • 1637 Discourse on the Method• Rules for the Direction of the Mind• Dioptrique (the Optics) • Meteors (the Meteorology)• Le Monde (The World) • Traite de l'homme (Treatise on

Man)• Meditations on First Philosophy • Principles of Philosophy• The Geometry• The Passions of the Soul• The Correspondence between

Elisabeth, Princess of Bohemia and Descartes


Noia9

Method’s Problem


Noia10

“Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has”. Discourse on Method

“Common sense is the most fairly distributed thing in the world, for each one thinks he is so well-endowed with it that even those who are hardest to satisfy in all other matters are not in the habit of desiring more of it than they already have”. Discourse on Method

Method’s Problem

• How do I know that what I know is truth?

• How can I be sure of my knowledge?

• After so many mistakes, which method (path) could be the most secure to obtain knowledge without the shadow of a doubt?


Noia11

http://breakiingdawn92.blogspot.com

Rules of the method1. Accept as true only what

is indubitable. EVIDENCE 2. Divide every question into

manageable parts. ANALYSIS 3. Begin with the simplest

issues and ascend to the more complex. SYNTHESIS

4. Review frequently enough to retain the whole argument at once. ENUMERATION

Evidence

Analysis

Synthesis

Enumeration


Noia12

Appling the method: morality• Provisional Morality, a few rules • “The first was to obey the laws and customs of my country, holding

constantly to the religion in which by God's grace I had been instructed from my childhood…. The second maxim was to be as firm and decisive in my actions as I could, and to follow even the most doubtful opinions, once I had adopted them, with no less constancy than if they had been quite certain…. My third maxim was to try always to master myself rather than fortune, and to change my desires rather than the order of the world…. Finally, to conclude this moral code… I thought I could do no better than to continue with the [occupation] I was engaged in, and to devote my whole life to cultivating my reason and advancing as far as I could in the knowledge of the truth, following the method I had prescribed for myself” (Discourse)


Noia13

Applying method

Information is not trustful

I think, therefore I

am.I doubt,

therefore I am.

Doubts


Noia14

“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things”.

R. Osborne and R. Edner, Philosophy for beginners.

Rationalism: Descartes’ Philosophy

• If I am able to doubt, therefore it is not true.• Doubt as a

method.



• Mathematical axioms: not true.

• Internal brain information: not true

• I can only be sure that I think: I am a person who thinks, that is what I am.

• My reason is my only guide.



IS THE BRAIN IN THE WORLD OR THE WORLD IN THE BRAIN?



René François Ghislain Magritte (1898–1967) Belgian surrealist artist; 18


Noia

Reality structure: dualism

• Though substance: spiritual substance

• Ontological argument, there is a eternal substance: God

• God is the guaranty of material existence of the universe: mechanical laws. Mechanic material substance


Noia19

“Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power”. Discourse on Method

R. Osborne and R. Edner, Philosophy for beginners.

Anthropology: dualism • Soul: rex cogitans• Body: rex extensa

(mechanical mater) • Pineal Gland: connection

between both.

• Western Dualism is mainly based on this conception of the universe and human beings.


Noia20

http://misteriosenlaweb.blogspot.com

B. Spinoza (1.632-1.677)• Jew /Spanish / Holand• Substance, attributes

and modes: Pantheist, pan-atheist, or atheist?

• Ethical philosophy: Spinoza's Ethics (mathematical ethics)

• Spinoza's political theory• Spinoza's religious

criticismM. Torres History of Western


21

http://myjuryduty.net

G. Leibniz (1.646-1.716)• Monads: substance.• Pre existence harmony:

God’s creation following rational principles.

• Theodicy and optimism• Symbolic thought:

universal language, formal logic and Math

• Invented (with Newton) of infinitesimal calculus (differential and integral calculus)


Noia22

http://filosofia.laguia2000.com

Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715)

• French catholic rationalist philosopher.

• Dualism:“I am unable, when I turn to myself, to recognize any of my faculties or my capacities. The inner sensation which I have of myself informs me that I am, that I think, that I will, that I have sensory awareness, that I suffer, and so on; but it provides me with no knowledge whatever of what I am - of the nature of my thought, my sensations, my passions, or my pain - or the mutual relations that obtain between all these things [...] I have no idea whatever of my soul”. Dialogues on Metaphysics

Blaise Pascal (1623 –1662)

• French mathematician, • Catholic philosopher


Noia23

Download - Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

Top Related