René Descartes is often credited with being the first philosopher of the modern era. He was the first to doubt the existence of the physical world and to think that all knowledge comes from the mind.
Descartes was born in 1596 in La Haye, France, into a family of lawyers. His father died when he was only one year old and his mother died when he was eight years old. Descartes was raised by his grandmother and attended Jesuit schools until age 16, when he enrolled at Poitiers University. There, he studied law and mathematics but soon decided that his true passion lay with philosophy. At age 20, Descartes moved to Paris where he lived for about 10 years as a professional thinker and writer. In 1628, he left Paris for Holland where he lived until 1649 before returning to France.
Actually, Descartes’ contributions to science include his work on optics, where he developed a theory of refraction as a result of his studies of rainbows. He also laid down some basic principles for scientific method, including clear definitions and careful observation of phenomena.
René made a number of discoveries in mathematics, including his Cartesian coordinate system and his formula for calculating volumes. His most important discovery was analytical geometry, which allowed him to solve many problems that had previously been very difficult or impossible.
In addition, Descartes’ most famous work is Discourse on Method (1637), which contains four meditations on skepticism and rationalism that led him to develop his philosophy known as Cartesianism (after its founder). The first meditation begins with Descartes doubting everything that can be doubted; only then does he begin constructing arguments for things that cannot be doubted.
