Rene Descartes

Rene Descartes was a French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher. He is the innovator of the Cartesian coordinate system - a system of geometry that associates a position on a plane with a pair of numbers. http://www.uncw.edu/courses/mat111hb/functions/coordinates/coordinates.html His treatises on philosophy have also been influential. He was one of the first to advance the idea that math and science determine the universe. http://www.renedescartes.com/

Descartes received a full education as a boy, enrolling in the Jesuit college of La Fleche at the age of eight. http://www.oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/descartes.html Always in fragile health, he was allowed to stay in bed until late in the morning: a habit that continued throughout his life. http://www.egs.edu/library/rene-descartes/biography/ Like many philosophers of the day, he considered his early schooling to be ineffective . Only mathematics had proven to be of any substance. http://www.oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/descartes.html

Descartes admired ancient mathematicians such as Euclid and Archimedes but questioned their process. It seemed that the method they used in presenting their materials was not clearly the method by which these results were discovered. http://www.oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/descartes.html He would ultimately prize method over practice, and sought to separate the mind from the body. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/DESCARTE.HTM

In 1628, Descartes became widely recognized from a confrontation with Chandoux, a French scientist. Chandoux believed science could be explained by probability. Descartes attacked this view, claiming that only certainty could back science. He also claimed that he himself had a method to prove his hypothesis. http://www.oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/descartes.html After an endorsement by Cardinal de Berulle, a leading intellectual, Descartes moved to Holland. http://www.egs.edu/library/rene-descartes/biography/ It was here where he would spent the next twenty years, pursuing his theories in seclusion. http://www.oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/descartes.html

• 1596 - Born March 31st in La Haye, France
• 1608 - Enrolls in the Jesuit college of La Fleche
• 1616 - Leaves for the University of Poitiers and studies Law
• 1618 - Goes to Holland and joins the army under Prince Maurice of Nassau
• 1619 - Dreams of founding a universal science based on mathematics
• 1622 - Returns to Paris, travels widely through Europe
• 1628 - Confrontation with Chandoux, leaves for Holland

• 1629 - Begins work on The World
• 1633 - Abandons publication after persecution of Galileo
• 1635 - Daughter Francine is born (died 1640)
• 1637 - Publishes what may be his most widely known text Discourses on Method, along with Optics, Meteorology, and the Geometry
• 1641 - Publishes Meditations on First Philosophy
• 1642 - Second edition of Meditations
• 1643 - Cartesian philosophy condemned at the University of Utrecht
• 1644 - Visits France. Publishes The Principles of Philosophy
• 1647 - Awarded a pension by the King of France. Begins Description of the Human Body
• 1649 - Moves to Sweden at the behest of Queen Christina. Publishes The Passions of the Soul
• 1650 - Dies on February 11, 1650 http://www.oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/descartes.html

Descartes lived to see many of his theories gain prominence including Discourses on Method, which championed deductive reasoning. This was a foundation for later contributions to mathematics and physics, including the introduction to analytic geometry. http://www.egs.edu/library/rene-descartes/biography/ In 1649, he relocated to Sweden to tutor of Queen Christina of Sweden. Her penchant for rising early eventually caught up with him. Ill-equipped to deal with the climate or tutorials at 5am, Descartes died of pneumonia in 1650. http://www.egs.edu/library/rene-descartes/biography/