Exposition On Rene Descartes
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ScribdTranslationsSUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
I- MODERN PHILOSOPHY
The Century of Enlightenment
Skepticism
II- PRESENTATION OF RENE DESCARTES
1- Identification of the author's position
I think, therefore I am and I think, therefore God
III - THE GREAT PHILOSOPHERS OF THE MODERN PERIOD
1-Empiricism
2- Rationalism
CONCLUSION
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INTRODUCTION
The modern period extends from the 16th century to the 18th century.
the reflections of the philosophers of this time focus on the search for the source
or the foundation of knowledge.
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I- MODERN PHILOSOPHY
Modern philosophy refers to the thought that, in the West, extends over this
what historians call the modern era (1492-1789), including a part
from the Renaissance, the 17th century, and the Age of Enlightenment. It must not
to be confounded with contemporary philosophy.
Modern philosophy is, on one hand, the heir of ancient thought in
many points. Thinkers of the modern era, such as Spinoza, Descartes,
Leibniz or Hume are indeed far from having broken all ties with philosophy.
of the ancients. They knew them perfectly and notably borrowed from them.
a part of their vocabulary. But, on the other hand, the Moderns often
designed their own work as an improvement or a surpassing of what
the philosophers of antiquity had already accomplished, which sometimes led them
to oppose the latter.
The Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment corresponds to a literary movement and
philosophical movement that developed between 1715 and 1789 across all of Europe. The
the philosophers of the Enlightenment are keen to allow the people to access the truth
knowledge, to freedom and happiness. They challenge the foundations of the
religion, contesting absolute monarchy, and denouncing social inequalities. They
also fight against slavery in the name of the principle of equality.
2- Skepticism
Skepticism is a faculty and a method that serves to examine, which
compare and contrast, in all possible ways, the apparent things, or
sensible things, and those that are perceived through understanding; by means of
which faculty we reach (due to the equal weight that is found in
things or in opposing reasons) firstly to the epochē, that is to say to the
suspension of assent, and then to ataraxia, that is to say to the expression of
trouble, to the tranquility of the soul.
Skepticism is a position of refusal. Refusal to rule on the existence of the
objects. The judgment is suspended, the doubt is permanent.
II- PRESENTATION OF RENE DESCARTES
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) is a French philosopher. In 1616, he
obtains both the Baccalaureate and a Degree in Law. From 1628, he lived
frequently in Holland, lives a quiet life, engages in meditation and
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and " wrote his main works. Outside of mathematics, he is not
satisfied with the education received which he considers sterile. He wrote:
The Rules for the Direction of the Mind;
The Discourse on the Method;
The Metaphysical Meditations;
The Principles of Philosophy;
The Passions of the Soul
1- Identification of the author's position
"From which it follows that even the ideas of movement and figures are
naturally within us: and even more so the ideas of pain, of
Colors, sounds, and all similar things, must they be
natural, so that our mind, on the occasion of certain natural movements
corporal beings with which they have no resemblance, can have them
represent
2- I think, therefore I am and I think, therefore God
I think, therefore I am
Cogito, ergo sum is a Latin phrase meaning 'I think, therefore I am'.
"I am". Used in French by the philosopher and mathematician René Descartes
in the Discourse on the Method (1637). For the philosopher, it expresses the
the first certainty that resides in a methodical doubt.
I think, therefore God
I think therefore God is / exists
III - THE GREAT PHILOSOPHERS OF THE MODERN PERIOD
The main philosophers of the modern era are, in order
chronological :
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
Giordano Bruno (1548-1600)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Hugo Grotius (1583-1645)
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
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René Descartes (1596-1650)
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
John Locke (1632-1704)
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)
Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715)
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)
Giambattista Vico (1668-1744)
George Berkeley (1685-1753)
Montesquieu (1689-1755)
Voltaire (1694-1778)
David Hume (1711-1776)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
Emmanuel Kant (1724-1804)
1-Empiricism
Empiricism is a philosophical movement that asserts that the means
the attainment of knowledge is experience. For empiricism, experience is
what determines whether something is valid or not. It is through perception
sensorielle que nous obtenons la connaissance, et non par la raison comme le
proposes rationalism.
2- Rationalism
Rationalism is a philosophical movement that argues that knowledge
is obtained through reason, and not as empiricism defends, through experience.
Rationalism developed during the 17th century.e and XVIIIe century, and its
the most prominent author was René DESCARTES. Although he was largely
developed by authors such as Spinoza and Pascal.
CONCLUSION
Whenever a new science appears, or, better yet, when a
a new scientific paradigm is emerging, philosophy perceives an injunction
to reconsider his thoughts on reason. This is what happened in
the modern era that we have (at least partially, very quickly) studied.
