Rene Descartes

Rene Descartes

René Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who spent about 20 years of his life in the Dutch Republic.His mother passed away around a year after his birth and his dad was a member of the parliament.

Born on: March 31, 1596, in La Haye En Touraine (now known as Descartes), FranceDeath: February 11, 1650, in Stockholm, Sweden due to x pneumonia, at the age of 53

I think, therefore I am

He wrote various books and papers about optics, and examined the rainbows. He declared there was no vacuum, but supported momentum conservation. Descartes also invented the principle of inertia. A supporter of the wave theory of light and vortex theory for planets, he thought of the universe and the human body as a giant machine. His most important philosophical position was connected with the mind-body dichotomy. Descartes explained that mind was ---visible to the physical body into which it entered through the -pineal gland. He thought that science is an activity of the ------observing mind to see an observed objective reality. ------------Using one phrase, “cogito ergo sum” (I think, -----------------therefore I am), he changed the whole direction of Western philosophy.

By Dani Eaton