Rene Descartes
Philosophy: Famous Philosophers: Rene Descartes
Discussion of Philosophy & Metaphysics of Rene Descartes
'I Think Therefore I Exist'
Pictures / Quotes / Quotations Rene Descartes
'A Discourse on Method Meditations and Principles'
I think, hence I am, was so certain and of
such evidence, that no ground of doubt, however extravagant, could be alleged
by the sceptics capable of shaking it, I concluded that I might, without
scruple, accept it as the first principle of the philosophy of which I
was in search.
(Rene Descartes)
Several years have now elapsed since I first
became aware that I had accepted, even from my youth, many false opinions
for true, and that consequently what I afterwards based on such principles
was highly doubtful: and from that time I was convinced of the necessity
of undertaking once in my life to rid myself of all the opinions I had
adopted, and of commencing anew the work of building from the foundation,
if I desired to establish a firm and abiding superstructure in the sciences.
(Rene Descartes).
Introduction
- Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes is one of the most elegant writers of philosophy. He is
also one of the most important of the western philosophers due to his determination
to find a certain foundation for philosophy / truth that could not be assaulted
by the skeptics!
His solution? That it is impossible to doubt that you are thinking (you
must think to doubt) thus we can be certain that a thinking mind exists.
However, it is strange that Descartes did not further pursue this line
of reasoning, as he would then have really solved the problems of philosophy
/ knowledge.
The reasoning is simple.
1. 'Cogito Ergo Sum' - I think therefore I exist (a thinking
thing exists).
2. I think I exist as a material body in space and that I can see and
interact with other material things in the space around me, including other
thinking things (other humans).
3. Thus three things seem to exist in an interconnected way;
i) Many thinking minds (of which I am certain of my own)
ii) Many material things (people, cars, trees, houses, earth, sun, stars,
...)
iii) One common Space (that these minds and material things exist in)
From this there is only one way to describe reality if we abide by the
rules of simplicity (Occam's Razor) and metaphysics
(necessary connection). i.e. There are many minds and
material things - but they all seem to exist in one common space. This
leads to a simple
deduction of the wave structure of matter in Space which then deduces
the fundamentals of physics (without any opinions),
i.e. Quantum Theory, Albert
Einstein's Relativity and Cosmology. The
main philosophy page is also very good.
This Rene Descartes page is incomplete and will not be written up until
July, 2007 (I am re-reading his 'Meditations' at the moment).
Please see links to articles at the top of the page that explain and solve
numerous problems of knowledge from the foundation of the Wave Structure
of Matter. i.e. By simplifying and uniting the current paradigm of the
motion of matter 'particles' and 'fields' in 'Space-Time' to the Wave Motion
of Space.
Geoff Haselhurst (June, 2007)
I Think Therefore I Exist - Rene Descartes
I think, hence I am, was so certain and of
such evidence, that no ground of doubt, however extravagant, could be alleged
by the sceptics capable of shaking it, I concluded that I might, without
scruple, accept it as the first principle of the philosophy of which I
was in search. (Rene Descartes)
To be completed - I am re-reading Descartes 'Meditations' at the moment
to collect quotes. The essay should be finished by early 2008. It will be
good!
On Rene Descartes Matter, Mind and God
To begin, a summary of his central ideas.
Descartes main interest was in the development of science,
and he had very clear ideas about the proper direction for this development.
Mathematics, and in particular geometry, seemed to him to provide the model
for scientific procedure. He thought that the fundamental method in science
was the deductive method of geometry, which he conceived of as rigorous
reasoning from self-evident axioms; and he thought that the subject-matter
of all the physical sciences must be fundamentally the same as the subject-matter
of geometry, and hence that, from the point of view of science in general,
the only important characteristics of things in the physical world were
the spatial characteristics which geometry studies. It is not the holding
of these beliefs which makes Descartes a metaphysician. It is rather the
dramatic expression they receive in his doctrines about the essential nature
of knowledge and existence.
He offers a picture of a world in which the only realities,
apart from God, are purely material substance with none but spatial characteristics,
and pure thinking substances whose being essentially consists in the ability
to grasp self-evident axioms and their deductive consequences. Knowledge
is nothing but the results of exercising this ability. ...
Thus Descartes teaches, on the one hand, that it is only through our confidence
in God's veracity that we can have reason to believe in the existence of
material things; and on the other that it is only through our willfulness
that we ever believe what is false. (Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy)
Rene
Descartes
René Descartes, also known as Cartesius, was a French
philosopher, mathematician and part-time mercenary. He is equally notable
for both his groundbreaking work in philosophy and mathematics. As the
inventor of the Cartesian coordinate system, he formulated the basis of
modern geometry (analytic geometry), which in turn influenced the development
of modern calculus.
Descartes, sometimes called the Founder of Modern Philosophy
and the Father of Modern Mathematics, ranks as one of the most important
and influential thinkers in modern western history. He inspired both his
contemporaries and later generations of philosophers, leading them to form
what we know today as continental rationalism, a philosophical position
in 17th and 18th century Europe.
In Meditations on First Philosophy (1641), Descartes attempts to arrive
at a fundamental set of principles that one can know as true without any
doubt. To achieve this, he employs a method called Methodological Skepticism:
he doubts any idea that can be doubted. Initially, Descartes arrives at
only a single principle: if I am being deceived, then surely "I" must
exist. Most famously, this is known as cogito ergo sum, ("I think,
therefore I am"). Therefore, Descartes concludes that he can be certain
that he exists. But in what form? You perceive your body through the use
of the senses; however these are unreliable (he uses the changing characteristics
of wax by a flame as an example and dreams - one's senses perceive things
that seem real, but do not actually exist). So Descartes concludes that
at this point, he can only say that he is a thinking thing. Thinking is
his essence as it is the only thing about him that cannot be doubted. (Edited
from Wikipedia)
Related Links - Rene Descartes
http://descartes.cyberbrahma.com/vortex.html - Vortex
Theory of Rene Descartes, the 17th Century French Philosopher and
Mathematician.
To be completed
RSS
"When
forced to summarize the general theory of relativity in one sentence: Time
and space and gravitation have no separate existence from matter. ... Physical
objects are not in space, but these objects are spatially extended.
In this way the concept 'empty space' loses its meaning. ... The particle
can only appear as a limited region in space in which the field strength or
the energy density are particularly high. ...
