René Descartes

Rene Descartes and John Locke are regarded as the first early modern philosophers. Both were in search for the answer to the same question in metaphysics and epistemology, what is knowledge? However, in search for the answer to this question, both philosophers differ in terms of their answers. They’re answers contradicted, and they critiqued one another on their own propositions. The rivalry between rationalism and empiricism emerged within epistemology. In what follows, I will be comparing…

Descartes perspective in The Official Doctrine emphasizes mostly on humans having both a body, and mind which are constructed of many different properties. These two according to the doctrine are harnessed together in life, but conceivable situations such as death can cause the body, and the mind to come apart, and the internal mind may continue to exist because the mind is essentially private. Ryle argues that Cartesian Dualism is wrong and should be rejected because he beliefs that the…

Rene Descartes, also known as the “father of modern philosophy”, was a rationalist and epistemologist. A seventeenth century philosopher, Descartes quest for the truth caused him to create a lasting system that affected epistemological and subjective turns. In the epistemological turn, Descartes conveys the idea that one must account for what they know before they can talk about what is real; similarly, in the subjective turn, Descartes reveals the idea that subjective experience is the most…

In the finality of Descartes' first meditation, the meditator is already facing supreme doubt of all formerly inherited and empirical knowledge and builds an approach towards creating a foundation of doubt on all previous beliefs. Believing to have called all of their beliefs into question, the meditator still demands reason to doubt arithmetic and geometric knowledge – a knowledge that to them feels most intuitive; a “perfect knowledge”. To this, the meditator raises a hypothesis that applies…

1. Discuss the philosophies of Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibnitz. How did they affect the Baroque era? Are there parts of their philosophies you agree with or disagree with? What are they? Why? The philosophy of Descartes was, “I think, therefore I am” and that God created us then left us alone. Spinoza believed that everything has a purpose and that “God and Nature” were the same. He explained that Freedom is the choice to say “Yes”, and understand why the results happen. Leibniz…

the foundation of modern philosophy, Descartes and Locke feud over the definition of these ideas, the acquisition of these concepts, and the content of these thoughts. Descartes identifies with a rationalistic view where knowledge is based on innate ideas and these ideas are acquired through reason, whereas Locke believes in empirical explanations which state that ideas are formulated from sensation and experiences with the outside world. In many of Descartes’ works, he emphasizes the…

those regarding higher power and error. In Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, he seeks to validate his own thoughts, ideas, and beliefs through reasoning, and in doing so raises questions about the existence of God and the sources for error. Through the course of his argument, his premises and conclusions debate these topics, which allows the Meditations to be followed as a sequence of arguments. However, on the path of the argument, Descartes’ logic can be called into question, as well…

René Descartes, the famous French philosopher and brilliant 17th century Scholar is credited worldwide as the founder of modern western philosophy for his works in the fields of Ontology – a branch of metaphysics regarding the ‘nature of being’- and Epistemology – the study of knowledge. What set him apart from the ancient philosophers was his avoidance of the scholastic traditions to write only in Latin (the language that only highly educated people were trained in) and instead wrote in French…

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) published a series of thought experiments in 1641 called Meditations on First Philosophy. At the beginning of the Third Meditation, Descartes outlines the Problem of the External World. Predictably, without reading the First and Second Meditations, the problem is difficult to grasp. Therefore, I will provide a summary of what took place before I continue. In the First Meditation, Descartes, contemplates the great number of falsehoods he has come to believe over the…

Francis Bacon is a world-renowned English philosopher from the early years of 1561-1626. Bacon is famous for many of his philosophical works, including the Novum Organum. Published in 1620 the Novum Organum suggests an entirely new system of logic, which is based on induction rather than on the syllogism. Bacon recognized that the human mind is filled with incorrect and irrational ideas that are preventing them from interpreting nature accurately. These incorrect notions are described by Bacon…