Rene Descartes 1596 – 1650
Rene Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist often called the father of modern philosophy. In the Meditations on First Philosophy he applied methodic doubt to establish a foundational certainty in the cogito, captured by the formula I think, therefore I am. He defended a dualist account of mind and body and developed analytic geometry, linking algebra and Euclidean geometry. His mechanistic view of nature influenced the trajectory of European science. His work set the agenda for rationalist philosophy in the seventeenth century.
Key facts
- Nationality
- French
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Rationalism, Early Modern
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Rene Descartes:
“I think, therefore I am.”
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Attributed to Rene Descartes:
“It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.”
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Attributed to Rene Descartes:
“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.”
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Attributed to Rene Descartes:
“Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems.”
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Attributed to Rene Descartes:
“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.”
Quotes that are not actually from Rene Descartes
These lines are widely circulated as Rene Descartes, but they do not appear in Rene Descartes's works. Each entry below identifies the actual source.
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“Doubt is the origin of wisdom.”
Although widely attributed to Descartes — and consistent with the spirit of his methodic doubt — the Latin phrase 'Dubium sapientiae initium' has not been located in his published works or correspondence. The attribution appears to be a 19th-century or later summary of Cartesian method rather than a direct quotation.