Rene Descartes’ Life and Works about Philosophy

Rene Descartes was born on 31 March 1596 CE in La Haye, France. His father was a
landowner and councilor for the Parliament of Brittany. Beginning at the age of the ten, the
young Descartes received his education from the Jesuits at the College de La Fleche in the
French province of Anjou a school founded by Henry IV of France (r. 1589-1610 CE) and
considered one of the finest schools in all of Europe. While there, he studied languages, logic,
ethics, mathematics, physics, and metaphysics. He would later study at the University of Poitiers
where he earned a degree in law, graduating in 1616 CE. Despite what many of his time would
consider an excellent education, except in the area of mathematics which he viewed as simple,
obvious, and logical, he grew to seriously question the teachings of his teachers. In his
work Discourse on the Method, he wrote on his rejection of these early teachings.
He was at one of the most renowned schools in Europe but became filled with doubt and
with a failed attempt to instruct himself, he soon discovered what he considered to be his own
ignorance. Heavily influenced by the ideas of both Galileo (1564-1642 CE)
and Copernicus (1473-1543 CE) and their heliocentric view of the universe where the sun, not
the earth, was the center of the solar system, Descartes embarked on a long road that would
change the very nature of philosophy for generations to come.
During the early 17th century CE, Europe was undergoing a crucial change in the area of
both science and philosophy. Before Descartes' assertion on the concept of doubt and the
transition into rationalism, Aristotelean philosophy and scholasticism dominated Western
thought, but science initiated a break from this traditional ideology to one based on an
individual's own power of reason. In this new way of thinking, initiated by Descartes, the old
concept of empiricism where knowledge was acquired by the senses or experience was shown to
be unreliable. Science placed a strong emphasis on observation, experimentation, and reason. It
was the last of these three that enabled Descartes to question everything that he had been taught
to believe and motivate his search for truth. Using only the power of reason, he would try to
prove his own existence.
Descartes began this search when he volunteered to serve in both the armies of the
Netherlands and Germany and traveled throughout Europe. While stationed in the German
province of Bavaria, he had an experience that would completely change his life. On 10
November 1619 CE to escape from the cold weather, he took shelter in a tiny room, heated only
by a ceramic furnace. With little else to occupy his time, he spent his day meditating. One night
he had three vivid dreams. Upon awakening, he viewed these dreams as visions, seeing the
natural world as a single system with mathematics as its key. He wondered if the certainty of
mathematics could be applied to other areas of knowledge. In his Discourses, he wrote of this
experience.
The French philosopher René Descartes died after a brief illness on 11 February 1650
in Stockholm in the house of his friend, the French ambassador Pierre Chanut.