Ren Descartes
René Descartes, French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, sometimes called the father of modern philosophy, was born in La Haye, Touraine . Descartes was the son of a minor nobleman and belonged to a family that had produced a number of learned men. ... Roman Catholicism was a strong influence on Descartes’ life. ... Later, Descartes served in other armies, but his attention had already been attracted to the problems of mathematics and philosophy to which he was to devote the rest of his life. ... While in France, Descartes devoted himself to the study of philosophy and also experimented in the science of optics. ... Descartes lived for varying periods in a number of different cities in the Netherlands. Descartes wrote his first major work, Philosophical Essays, published in 1637. ... In 1649, Descartes was invited to the court of Queen Christina of Sweden in Stockholm to give the queen instruction in philosophy; in this year he also published the work called The Passions of the Soul. ... Descartes attempted to apply the rational inductive methods of science, and particularly of mathematics, to philosophy. ... Rejecting this method, Descartes stated, "In our search for the direct road to truth, we should busy ourselves with no object about which we cannot attain a certitude equal to that of the demonstration of arithmetic and geometry. ... Descartes turns to the content of his thoughts and realizes that he has, among other ideas, the idea of a Perfect Being or God, and reasons that there must be something outside himself corresponding to this idea, that God must exist in reality and not merely in his thoughts. ... Descartes then argues that an idea of a perfect thing cannot be brought into being by an imperfect agent, as he is as shown by his state of doubt, which is inferior to knowledge. ... One of these is known as the Cartesian circle: no argument to show that God exists can be certain unless one is certain of ones own reasoning; but, according to Descartes, one cannot be certain of ones reasoning unless one is certain that God exists. Also, as Descartes admitted, we are sometimes deceived, so how is this to be reconciled with the existence of a Perfect Being who would not deceive us? Descartes answer at the time was that deceptions are a result of our misuse of free will. ... Descartes is known as the father of the mind-body problem. ... Despite having different natures, Descartes thought that mind and body causally interact. ... Ultimately Descartes thought that the mind or soul and body are united in a peculiar way, but the peculiar nature of this union cannot be explained. ... In contrast to Descartes way of thinking is Charles Peirces philosophy. ... Rene Descartes was alive in the early part of the 17th century. ... Descartes wants to be apodictic, which is absolutely certain, about his claims. ... Descartes also wants to use a method that is logical and the idea of knowledge as systematic. Descartes believes the first and most logical principle of knowledge is philosophy. ... Rather than going out into the world to find knowledge, Descartes want us to go inside ourselves. ... Descartes decided question everything. ... Descartes answers the first question by saying that clear and distinct ideas are trust worthy. ... Descartes argues that God gives us these clear and distinct ideas and since God can be trusted, then so can these thoughts. ... Descartes believes God exists because he is perfect and if he were not perfect then he would not exist. ... The second question is answered by Descartes in a very profound statement. ... "I think, therefore I am“ that assures me that I am uttering the truth, except that I see very clearly that, in order to think, one must exist"(Descartes p.18) This very famous phrase shows us Descartes thought process and foundation for thinking. Charles Peirce had some interesting thoughts that are significantly different from those of Descartes. ... Instead of creating a method, the way Descartes did, Peirce employs the scientific method. ... Descartes wants to distrust our experiences because we can not be sure that they are true. ... Descartes states that we should trust clear and distinct ideas, but Peirce feels that Descartes does not define what makes an idea clear. ... What Descartes is doing is theoretical doubting and Peirce sees this as unimportant, "the mere putting of a proposition into interrogative form does not stimulate the mind to a struggle after belief. ... Descartes is looking for absolute certainty, but this concept is impossible to Peirce because there are only beliefs. ... It may be hard for a Descartes to respond to opposing views now that he is dead, we can still see how the two views are different and divergent. We should consider that it is much easier for Peirce to come up with a comparable theory after having over 200 years of people examining Descartes thoughts and analyzing them. ... I have some problems with Descartes and his conception of a supreme being. For an atheist, Descartes theories do not hold, they are based on the existence of God. ... Descartes is asking us to believe that anything probable must be considered false, if the idea of God is not definite in ones mind (with no possible doubt) then his theory does not hold. ... Although Descartes wants us to believe and trust in the strength of his argument, I have a problem with much of it. ... If this is Descartes foundation, then I do not feel it is strong enough to support the rest of his conclusions. ... While Descartes needs a firm foundation to build the rest of his thought as true, Peirce lets his thoughts stand on their own. Descartes wants absolute knowledge as well as truth and relies on his proof of the existence of God, where as Peirce is simply concerned with belief and how we come to believe something is true. Descartes philosophy has been influential on many people and his thoughts have been pondered over for over 300 years which makes them easier to criticize. ... Descartes as a natural scientist argued that bodies differ from how they appear through the senses. ... In the field of physiology, Descartes held that part of the blood was a subtle fluid, which he called animal spirits. ... The most notable contribution that Descartes made to mathematics was the systematization of analytic geometry. ... Descartes was the first to use the last letters of the alphabet to designate unknown quantities and the first letters to designate known ones. ... The influence of Descartes on the history of philosophy has probably been greater than that of any other philosopher with the exception of Aristotle.