The Scientific Revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries changed the way people viewed the world. Scientific philosophers, such as Galileo and Descartes, rejected the old teachings of the church and introduced new ways of thinking. These men sought to prove that rational thought could demonstrate the existence of God. They also argued that understanding a series of rational thoughts, rather than faith, would lead to an understanding of how the world worked. Traditional ways of thinking were ultimately challenged by logical and sensible reasoning. Galileo Galilei, an Italian philosopher, was born in 1564. As an adult, he did not believe in the universal geocentric theory of the planets and heavens, which was established by the Catholic Church. The Church taught that the Earth was the center of the universe, and everything revolved around our planet. Another theory that the Church supported was that the Earth stood still while the sun rose and set every day. Society in the 1500s believed that the Pope spoke for God through a divine connection, and to go against the Church was to go against God. To speak out against the Church in this time was strictly taboo. If one spoke against the Church, it was considered heresy, which is exactly what happened to Galileo. Galileo invented the telescope and began studying the heavens above and noticed changes within the stars and planets. He observed that the "stars" that surrounded Jupiter moved. He came to the conclusion through rational thinking that Copernicus' heliocentric theory was correct. Copernicus was a scientist and philosopher whose theory proposed that the sun was stationary, and the heavens orbit around the sun. Galileo tried to convince the Church not to abolish the Copernican theory but was told that he was not to entertain such thoughts with others.... ... middle of paper ... ...(n.d.). Simple Wiki. Retrieved February 7, 2011, from http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes René Descartes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 10, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes SparkNotes: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778): The Social Contract. (n.d.). SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Retrieved February 9, 2011, from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/rousseau/section2.rhtml SparkNotes: René Descartes (1596–1650). (n.d.). SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Retrieved February 8, 2011, from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/descartes The Enlightenment in Europe. (n.d.). Classzone.com. Retrieved February 7, 2011, from http://www.lmoskal.net/worldhistory/whtext/ch22/W5E22BAD.pdf
Review of Descartes: An Intellectual Biography and Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain
Descartes, René. "Meditation Three." Descartes, René. Meditations on First Philosophy. Trans. Donald A. Cress. Third Edition. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1993. 24-35. Paperback.
Descartes, Rene. "Meditations on First Philosophy." Trans. John Veitch. The Philosophy of the 16th and 17th Centuries. Ed. and Comp. Richard H. Popkin. New York: The Free Press, 1966. 122-180.
John Cottingham, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Descartes. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Descartes, Rene. Meditations on First Philosophy: With Selections from the Objections and Replies. Translated by John Cottingham. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. 1996.
[1] Descartes, Rene. Meditations on First Philosophy. 1641 [Translated by John Veitch (1901)] Meditation 6, http://www.classicallibrary.org/descartes/meditations/9.htm
Rene Descartes decision to shatter the molds of traditional thinking is still talked about today. He is regarded as an influential abstract thinker; and some of his main ideas are still talked about by philosophers all over the world. While he wrote the "Meditations", he secluded himself from the outside world for a length of time, basically tore up his conventional thinking; and tried to come to some conclusion as to what was actually true and existing. In order to show that the sciences rest on firm foundations and that these foundations lay in the mind and not the senses, Descartes must begin by bringing into doubt all the beliefs that come to him by the senses. This is done in the first of six different steps that he named "Meditations" because of the state of mind he was in while he was contemplating all these different ideas. His six meditations are "One:Concerning those things that can be called into doubt", "Two:Concerning the Nature of the Human mind: that it is better known than the Body", "Three: Concerning God, that he exists", "Four: Concerning the True and the False", "Five: Concerning the Essence of Material things, and again concerning God, that he exists" and finally "Six: Concerning the Existence of Material things, and the real distinction between Mind and Body". Although all of these meditations are relevant and necessary to understand the complete work as a whole, the focus of this paper will be the first meditation.
Descartes, Rene. The Philosophical Writings, tr. John Cottingham and Dugald Murdoch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
René Descartes (1596 – 1650) is one of the most widely known philosophers in history and he is frequently discussed as an inventor of the modern scientific method. Rene Descartes was born on March 31, 1596, in La Haye of Touraine. He came from a wealthy family, and thus did not have any real financial worries. At age ten, his father sent him to the College Henri IV at La Fleche. This was a newly established Jesuit school, which was considered one of the best in Europe in terms of academic quality. Although Descartes appreciated what he was taught in mathematics, he was nonetheless discontent with the scholastic teaching he received from that school (Cress, 1993).
Descartes: Philosophical Letters, translated and edited by Anthony Kenny, Oxford University Press, Inc., 1970 pp. 11f, 14f, 236f, 150f.
Descartes, Rene. Meditations on First Philosophy. Translated by John Cottingham. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. 1996.
Descartes,R., (1996) Règles pour la direction de l'esprit, Principes de la Philosophie, in Ouevres, Paris,Vrin,.
René Descartes was a French philosopher from around 1596 to 1650 and is commonly known as the father of modern philosophy. He was also a mathematic and scientist along with being a philosopher. One of his main points happened to be his view on the reliability on what the mind tells one versus how reliable the senses are.
In order to embark on his quest for truth, Descartes first devises his four rules which should serve as a solid foundation for all else that he comes to understand. Those rules are here evaluated in terms of what they fail to take into consideration. The rules are examined individually and consecutively, and are therefore also reiterated in order to be clear about them. Furthermore, the approach of using these rules is also analyzed to some degree. Ultimately, however, it is my conjecture that Descartes’ four rules are not as solid a foundation as he claims, but fail to consider key issues which are noted herein.
Descartes. "Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy." Readings in Modern Philosophy. Ed. Roger Ariew and Eric Watkins. Vol. I. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2000. 22-55. Print.