AP+P2+2014-15+Descartes

Joy Kosik, Jonathon Davis, Meagan Poarch, and Harrisen Haslem Descartes

Aim: Joy

René Descartes is sometimes referred to as the father of philosophy because he challenged traditional views, most of which was set by Aristotle (Cline). Descartes wanted to progress philosophy and in the process promoted his new, mechanistic sciences. Descartes thought that the traditional Scholastic-Aristotelian philosophy was prone to doubt because it relied on sensations for their proof for their theories, and Descartes wanted to replace the traditional system with a more modern model (Skirry). Descartes’ goal was to advance philosophy, and in order to do that he treated it similar to science or math. He wanted concrete proof for ideas, which is why he wanted to replace the traditional views from Aristotle (Skirry). Descartes released multiple books, including Passions of the Soul, and Principles of Philosophy. While traveling with the army Descartes met Isaac Beeckman, who was a well known mathematician. Beeckman gave Descartes his popularity in mathematics, and Descartes later wrote about the philosophy that is the basis of philosophy today (“René Descartes”).

Works Cited

Cline, Austin. "Rene Descartes - Profile of the Philosopher." //About Religion//, n.d. Web. 06 Jan. 2015.

"René Descartes." //The Science Classroom//, n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2015.

Skirry, Justin. "Rene Descartes (1596-1650)." //Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy//, n.d. Web. 05 Jan. 2015.

Cultural: Meagan



René Descartes, the “Father of Modern Philosophy”, helped shape the way in which people thought and believed. Initially “Descartes set out to create a whole new system of thought that would unify all knowledge,” (Smith). At this point in time the education had already been progressing, but Descartes expanded on the ideas put in place to shift the way people thought about education. In particular he wanted to shape the way that Philosophy was used and the advancement in the study. The goal of Descartes was to inadvertently expand the minds of humanity to rely not on fact alone, but through theory as well. Descartes shared, “I am certain that I can have no knowledge of what is outside me except by means of the ideas I have within me,” (Descartes). Not all of the information that Descartes believed in was solid fact, therefore he wanted the education system not to be solely based on fact alone but the opportunities that can expand beyond the known.

“Rene Descartes (1596-1650).” // History of Psychology //, 1995. Web. 04 Jan. 2015.

Smith, Kurt. “Descartes' Life and Works.” //Stanford University//, 09 Apr. 2001. Web. 5 Jan. 2015.

Audience: Harrisen René Descartes, also known as the “Father of Modern Philosophy”, worked to try and defeat skepticism. In his book, __Rules For the Direction of the Mind__ he gives a list of rules that pretty much show how to look at science without being as skeptical as the age was. The basics of what his rules was that anything new that is learned, only adds to the knowledge that one already has, based on the assumption that that information is true. The book focused on the interest of method, which was to Descartes, “...the discovery of the proper method is the key to scientific advance” (Oregon State 3). Apart of the reasoning for the interest of method came from Euclid’s series of books Elements which were “a model of knowledge and deductive method” (Oregon State 3).All in all, Descartes intended audience was mainly the masses of scholars who had conflicting methods and to all skeptics during the time. He wanted to show the flaws in events such as the discoveries made by Archimedes, which were presented under a different method than what they were discovered with. Essentially, Descartes “wanted to replace their final causal model of scientific explanation with the more modern, mechanistic model” (Skirry 1).

Works Cited Skirry, Justin. "Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d. Web. 05 Jan. 2015. "RENE DESCARTES (1595-1650)." RENE DESCARTES. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Jan. 2015.

Historical: Jonathon René Descartes is considered to be the first modern philosopher. One of the biggest impacts Descartes had on history was his influence over science and culture. Descartes believed that reality consisted of two realms, a physical realm and a mental realm. The physical realm was the realm of energy and matter, the physical world in which humanity lived in, while the mental realm was a place of mind and soul, that transcended the physical realm (Smith). This helped many fields of science flourish such as psychology and medical science as medicine instead of faith was used to cure illnesses. Descartes way of thinking also lead to the separation of technology and ethics. Engineers focusing on the physical realm didn’t need to concern themselves with the ethics of the mental realm, conversely philosophers working in the mental realm did not need to concern themselves with the details of the physical realm. The University of Utah described this as “technology is being developed outside of any considerations of its wisdom” (“Rene Descartes(1596-1650)”). Descartes influence lead to the splitting and creation of many fields of science and new ways of approaching mental and physical problems.

Works Cited

Smith, Kurt. “Descartes' Life and Works.” //Stanford University//, 09 Apr. 2001. Web. 5 Jan. 2015.

“Rene Descartes (1596-1650).” //History of Psychology//, 1995. Web. 04 Jan. 2015.