Descartes

Rene' Descartes, also son of a lawyer, was born in France, 1596. He was one of Europe's foremost philosophers and mathematician. He developed one of the most credible explanations of the time in the fields of optics, cosmology, physics, physiology, and biology. Unfortunately after his death his teachings and writings were almost forgotten, overshadowed by the more advanced and modern ideas from Sir Isaac Newton. Despite this Descartes remains one of the most widely read thinkers of any age. Even though his scientific works were far advanced than any other scientist of his age, his philosophical works stand out more. His ideas about God, mind, and body were considered antiquated by the time of Locke. Descartes wrote Principals of Philosophy in 1644. In his opening statement Descartes begins to discuss the nature of human knowledge. "Since we began life as infants, and made various judgements concerning the things that can be perceived by the senses before we had the full use of our reason, there are many preconceived opinions that keep us from knowledge of the truth." He says that humans are born with certain abilities and knowledge at birth, simply because of being born human. This philosophy became known as Cartesian Rationalism. Descartes developed his new philosophy because he was unsatisfied with the obscure and ambiguous philosophy of the powerful Scholastic philosophers. Even though debates between empiricists and Cartesian rationalists did not occur during Descartes' lifetime, his ideas are used during modern discussions.