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The Works of Rene Descartes: Discourse On Method, The Meditations, On The First Philosophy, The Principles of Philosophy
This collection of the works of Descartes contains the following books with book and chapter links for easier and practical read-through Philosophy of DescartesDiscourse On MethodThe Meditations On The First PhilosophyThe Principles of Philosophy
- GenresPhilosophy
338 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 12, 2011
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About the author
René Descartes
1,623 books2,406 followers
Meditations on First Philosophy
(1641) and
Principles of Philosophy
(1644), main works of French mathematician and scientist René Descartes, considered the father of analytic geometry and the founder of modern rationalism, include the famous dictum "I think, therefore I am."
A set of two perpendicular lines in a plane or three in space intersect at an origin in Cartesian coordinate system. Cartesian coordinate, a member of the set of numbers, distances, locates a point in this system. Cartesian coordinates describe all points of a Cartesian plane.
From given sets, {X} and {Y}, one can construct Cartesian product, a set of all pairs of elements (x, y), such that x belongs to {X} and y belongs to {Y}.
Cartesian philosophers include Antoine Arnauld.
René Descartes, a writer, highly influenced society. People continue to study closely his writings and subsequently responded in the west. He of the key figures in the revolution also apparently influenced the named coordinate system, used in planes and algebra.
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 version of now commonly called emotions, he goes so far to assert that he writes on his topic "as if no one had written on these matters before." Many elements in late Aristotelianism, the revived Stoicism of the 16th century, or earlier like Saint Augustine of Hippo provide precedents. Naturally, he differs from the schools on two major points: He rejects corporeal substance into matter and form and any appeal to divine or natural ends in explaining natural phenomena. In his theology, he insists on the absolute freedom of act of creation of God.
Baruch Spinoza and Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz later advocated Descartes, a major figure in 17th century Continent, and the empiricist school of thought, consisting of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume, opposed him. Leibniz and Descartes, all well versed like Spinoza, contributed greatly. Descartes, the crucial bridge with algebra, invented the coordinate system and calculus. Reflections of Descartes on mind and mechanism began the strain of western thought; much later, the invention of the electronic computer and the possibility of machine intelligence impelled this thought, which blossomed into the Turing test and related thought. His stated most in §7 of part I and in part IV of Discourse on the Method .
A set of two perpendicular lines in a plane or three in space intersect at an origin in Cartesian coordinate system. Cartesian coordinate, a member of the set of numbers, distances, locates a point in this system. Cartesian coordinates describe all points of a Cartesian plane.
From given sets, {X} and {Y}, one can construct Cartesian product, a set of all pairs of elements (x, y), such that x belongs to {X} and y belongs to {Y}.
Cartesian philosophers include Antoine Arnauld.
René Descartes, a writer, highly influenced society. People continue to study closely his writings and subsequently responded in the west. He of the key figures in the revolution also apparently influenced the named coordinate system, used in planes and algebra.
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 version of now commonly called emotions, he goes so far to assert that he writes on his topic "as if no one had written on these matters before." Many elements in late Aristotelianism, the revived Stoicism of the 16th century, or earlier like Saint Augustine of Hippo provide precedents. Naturally, he differs from the schools on two major points: He rejects corporeal substance into matter and form and any appeal to divine or natural ends in explaining natural phenomena. In his theology, he insists on the absolute freedom of act of creation of God.
Baruch Spinoza and Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz later advocated Descartes, a major figure in 17th century Continent, and the empiricist school of thought, consisting of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume, opposed him. Leibniz and Descartes, all well versed like Spinoza, contributed greatly. Descartes, the crucial bridge with algebra, invented the coordinate system and calculus. Reflections of Descartes on mind and mechanism began the strain of western thought; much later, the invention of the electronic computer and the possibility of machine intelligence impelled this thought, which blossomed into the Turing test and related thought. His stated most in §7 of part I and in part IV of Discourse on the Method .
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 9, 2021
I hadn’t read any direct works of Descartes before. Having done so, I would challenge atheists to think through his use of rational thought to reach his conclusions of a deity. Some of this I think is very helpful.
On the other hand, rational data is not our only source of truth in this world. Descartes’ over emphasis of this leaves little room for other faith-based claims either.
Also - one can only read rational philosophy for so long before going a little crazy.
On the other hand, rational data is not our only source of truth in this world. Descartes’ over emphasis of this leaves little room for other faith-based claims either.
Also - one can only read rational philosophy for so long before going a little crazy.
May 5, 2023
"Discourse on Method" by Rene Descartes is a foundational work of modern philosophy that established the importance of reason and rational thought in understanding the world. The book is divided into six parts, each exploring a different aspect of Descartes' philosophy. The key theme of the book is doubt - Descartes argues that we must doubt everything we think we know in order to arrive at a truly certain understanding of reality. This leads to his famous assertion, "Cogito, ergo sum" - "I think, therefore I am".
One concrete criticism of the book is that his methodology of doubting everything may be too extreme and impractical. Descartes' method requires doubting even the most basic and fundamental beliefs, such as the existence of the external world and the reliability of our senses. This extreme doubt can be seen as a form of skepticism that leads to an unproductive cycle of doubting and questioning without ever arriving at a certain conclusion.
However, despite these criticisms, "Discourse on Method" remains an important work that laid the groundwork for modern philosophy. The concept of doubt and the famous assertion "Cogito, ergo sum" continue to be studied and discussed today, making the book a significant contribution to the field of philosophy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews