René Descartes

Introduction
• Father of Modern Philosophy.
• Not only a philosopher but also a well-known French mathematician and scientist.
• One of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century.
• Frances greatest philosopher.
•Rene Descartes was born in La Haye in 1596
•Was the son of a minor nobleman.
•By 1606 he was studying at the Jesuit college of La Fleche.
•Went to Germany in the army in 1606 where he dreamed of studying universal science.
•He claimed that certainty is the only basis of knowledge.

Early Life
The Search for Intellectual Faith
•Descartes confronted many scientists and mathematicians that everything is not based on
probability. •He claimed that education except for mathematic gave him’ little of substance.
• Only Mathematics had given him certain knowledge.

Mathematical Accomplishments
•Descartes’ greatest contribution to the field of mathematics was developing analytical
geometry, which is applying algebra to geometry.
•He also established the coordinate plane system, which he developed to visualize and locate
exact points.
• He believed that only mathematics can be seen as certain, and therefore can be used to explain
the more complex ideas of the universe.

Descartes’ Epistemology - The philosophical examination of knowledge – its nature and its
origin.

Rationalism
• Epistemological school that maintains that the most important truths about reality are
obtained by means of the intellect (the mind) alone, without relying at all upon the
senses.
• Descartes gave his theory of knowledge, which is rational. Descartes' arguments in
support of rationalism are given below.
• Two objects are different if experience can show that the qualities of objects are
different empirical view.
• Experience shows that liquid wax and solid wax have different qualities. – Liquid wax
and solid wax are different objects
Notion of innate ideas
•Rationalism can be acquired by a priori means.by a priori means.
• Descartes emphasized the important of a priori ideas and argument in and argument in
establishing genuine knowledge on a firm foundation.
Notion of innate ideas
• In accordance with the rationalist view, there are representations or ideas in the mind that do
not have empirical origins (a priori representations).
• Rationalists consider the possibility that humans are born with these types of ideas.
Problem of Skepticism in epistemology
• Knowledge is not possible due to the fact that all knowledge remains uncertain.
• No knowledge is definite
• No knowledge can be justified
Descartes’ Method: Background
•The real turning point came on November 10, 1619.
•He found he can doubt pretty much everything.
•Descartes claim he has also developed a set of scientific principles that had allowed him
to make many discoveries.
Descartes’ four rules
•Rule one is to never believe anything unless you know it to be true.
•Rules two to analyze every problem into as many parts as are necessary to resolve the
problem.
•Rule three is to find the easiest solution and work up to the most difficult.
•Rule four is to list every possible detail of a problem.

Philosophy of Descartes
• He expresses his doubts of the existence of all things, especially materialistic objects.
• Descartes did not believe that the information we receive through our sense is
necessarily accurate.
Meditation 1:Existence of All Things
•Example: when we see an object that is far away, it appears to be smaller.
•The information we receive through our sense is not accurate always.
Meditation 2 Absolute Certainty
• He Tried to express absolute certainty, through his phrase, "I think, therefore I am”.
• Mediation 1- He expressed The information we receive through our sense is not
accurate always.
• This includes the belief that I have a body with sensory organs. “No”, because he had
convinced himself that his beliefs are false, and then there must be an “I” convince.
Meditation 3 The Existence of God
• Casual Principle: That something cannot come from nothing.
•P1: I have the clear idea of God (a most perfect being: infinite, eternal, omnipotent,
benevolent).
•P2: A cause must be at least as real as its effect.
•C: This idea of God (P1) can’t be imperfect to me (P2). Its cause must be God greater.
So God exists.
God is not formally an extended thing, but rather a thinking thing but rather a thinking
thing.
Meditation 4: Possibility of Error 
Judgement is a faculty of the mind, resulting from the interaction of will and intellect.
When our will to make decisions, exceeds the ability to understand, error arises.
Meditation 5: The Ontological Argument
Descartes believed that since the idea of God is perfect, God has to exist, because without
existence he would lack a quality of perfection.
If God lacked existence, then God would no longer be perfect.

Therefore, if God had imperfections such as not being existent, it would no longer be the idea
of God. God without existence is unintelligible, meaning that existence is contained in the
essence of an infinite substance.
Because of this, God must exist in his very own nature. God without existence can be compared
to a mountain without a valley. It is unintelligible.
Meditation 6: The Distinction between Mind and Body
Descartes defined substance as “an existent thing which requires nothing but itself to exist.”
 The operation of the mind and the body are completely distinct. The body is governed by
physical forces.
Human consist of a mind and a body. Some activities of the body are purely mechanical.
However, the mind has some control over the body.
Cartesianism emphasizes on – Dualistic distinction between mind and body.
Mechanistic interpretation
Logical analysis
Cartesianism is a species of rationalism, because Cartesians hold certain knowledge. It is
opposed to the tradition of empiricism. According to empiricism, “all knowledge is based on
sense experience and is therefore only probable”. Cartesians believed that God is omnipotent and
his will is entirely free. The human intellect, by contrast, is finite; thus, humans can be certain
only of what God reveals and of the fact that they and God exist.
Conclusion: Throughout his life, Descartes attempted to apply the rational inductive methods of
science and mathematics, to philosophy. He also made contributions to the theory of equations.
Descartes was the first to use the last letters of the alphabet to designate unknown quantities and
the first letters to designate known ones. He also invented the method for finding truth.