René Descartes’s Followers (1,147)

More followers…

René Descartes

Born

in La Haye en Touraine (now Descartes), France

March 31, 1596

Died

February 11, 1650

Website

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/

Genre

Philosophy, Science

Influences

Plato, Aristotle, Teresa D'Avila, Michel de Montaigne, Francis Bacon, ...more

edit data

René Descartes, also known as Renatus Cartesius (Latinized form), was a highly influential French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer. He has been dubbed the "Father of Modern Philosophy," and much of subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which continue to be studied closely. His influence in mathematics is also apparent, the Cartesian coordinate system that is used in plane geometry and algebra being named for him, and he was one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution.

Descartes frequently sets his views apart from those of his predecessors. In the opening section of the Passions of the Soul, a treatise on the Early Modern version of what are now commonly called emotions, he goes so far as to as René Descartes, also known as Renatus Cartesius (Latinized form), was a highly influential French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer. He has been dubbed the "Father of Modern Philosophy," and much of subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which continue to be studied closely. His influence in mathematics is also apparent, the Cartesian coordinate system that is used in plane geometry and algebra being named for him, and he was one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution.

Descartes frequently sets his views apart from those of his predecessors. In the opening section of the Passions of the Soul, a treatise on the Early Modern version of what are now commonly called emotions, he goes so far as to assert that he will write on his topic "as if no one had written on these matters before". Many elements of his philosophy have precedents in late Aristotelianism, the revived Stoicism of the 16th century, or in earlier philosophers like St. Augustine. In his natural philosophy, he differs from the Schools on two major points: First, he rejects the analysis of corporeal substance into matter and form; second, he rejects any appeal to ends — divine or natural — in explaining natural phenomena. In his theology, he insists on the absolute freedom of God’s act of creation.

Descartes was a major figure in 17th century continental rationalism, later advocated by Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz, and opposed by the empiricist school of thought consisting of Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. Leibniz, Spinoza and Descartes were all versed in mathematics as well as philosophy, and Descartes and Leibniz contributed greatly to science as well. As the inventor of the Cartesian coordinate system, Descartes founded analytic geometry, the bridge between algebra and geometry, crucial to the invention of calculus and analysis. Descartes' reflections on mind and mechanism began the strain of Western thought that much later, impelled by the invention of the electronic computer and by the possibility of machine intelligence, blossomed into the Turing test and related thought. His most famous statement is: Cogito ergo sum (French: Je pense, donc je suis; English: I think, therefore I am), found in §7 of part I of Principles of Philosophy (Latin) and in part IV of Discourse on the Method (French). ...more

Combine Editions
René Descartes’s books

Average rating: 3.71 · 62,763 ratings · 1,561 reviews · 502 distinct works • Similar authors

	Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes, Donald A. Cress (Translator) 3.70 avg rating — 24,079 ratings — published 1637 — 76 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes, Donald A. Cress (Translator) 3.70 avg rating — 17,252 ratings — published 1641 — 252 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Discourse on Method by René Descartes, Donald A. Cress (Translator) 3.71 avg rating — 14,256 ratings — published 1637 — 604 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, Volume I by René Descartes, John Cottingham (Translator) , Robert Stoothoff (Translator) 4.09 avg rating — 1,230 ratings — published 1911 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Meditations on First Philosophy: With Selections from the Objections and Replies by René Descartes, John Cottingham (Translator) , Bernard Williams (Introduction) 3.86 avg rating — 1,006 ratings — published 1641 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Meditations and Other Metaphysical Writings by René Descartes, Desmond M. Clarke (Translator) 3.68 avg rating — 689 ratings — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Selected Philosophical Writings by René Descartes, John Cottingham (Editor) , Dugald Murdoch (Editor) 3.78 avg rating — 646 ratings — published 1927 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Passions of the Soul by René Descartes, Stephen Voss 3.54 avg rating — 443 ratings — published 1649 — 53 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Discourse on Method and Related Writings by René Descartes, Desmond M. Clarke (Translator) 3.73 avg rating — 283 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rules for the Direction of the Mind by René Descartes, Laurence J. Lafleur (Translator) 3.67 avg rating — 337 ratings — published 1619 — 37 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by René Descartes…

Quotes by René Descartes

“I think; therefore I am.”
― Rene Descartes

2681 likes

“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.”
― René Descartes

tags: books, literature, reading, words

771 likes

“Cogito ergo sum. (I think, therefore I am.)”
― René Descartes

tags: latin, life-and-living, mottos, thinking

583 likes

See all René Descartes's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Seasonal Read...: 15.10 ("Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.")	71	296	May 14, 2010 09:30AM
Project Gutenberg...: Vous ne savez pas par où commencer?	1	56	Aug 30, 2010 05:03AM
100+ Books in 2019: Meghan's 2010 List	100	345	Dec 31, 2010 11:37PM
Reading with Style: Rws Completed Tasks - Spring 2013	989	127	May 31, 2013 09:03PM
Kierkegaard: If you like Kierkegaard, you might also like...	2	128	Sep 28, 2013 03:35PM
All About Books: February/March Non-Fiction Group Read Nominations	75	82	Jan 12, 2014 01:28PM
All About Books: Jenny's 2014 Challenge	72	113	Nov 01, 2014 04:31AM
All About Books: Gill's 2014 Challenge	69	119	Dec 30, 2014 11:22AM
The Reading For P...: A Literary Diary - what happened today in literary history?	971	166	Oct 15, 2015 11:51AM

More…

René Descartes’s Followers (1,147)

René Descartes

Combine EditionsRené Descartes’s books

Quotes by René Descartes

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
René Descartes’s books