René Descartes
Doubt everything, then rebuild from what survives. The start of modern philosophy.
Ideas
- Methodical doubt
- Reject anything that can be doubted at all, then see what is left standing.
- The cogito
- Even if I am deceived about everything, there must be something being deceived. Thinking proves existence, and it is the first certainty.
- Mind–body dualism
- Mind and matter are different kinds of thing, which leaves the question of how they interact.
- Coordinates
- He joined algebra and geometry, which is why graphs use Cartesian coordinates.
In their words
“I think, therefore I am.”
“It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.”
Start with
- Discourse on the Method (1637)
- Meditations on First Philosophy (1641)
- Principles of Philosophy (1644)
