ÿþ <COL width="*"><COL width="5*"> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>96 René Descartes father of modern philosophy</TITLE> <META http-equiv="keywords" content="René Descartes father of modern philosophy greatest of all thinkers seventeenth-century Europe mathematics science ground-breaking theories methods tools religion Church of Rome Galileo heresy Copernicus blasphemous God knowledge existence Cogito ergo sum 'I am thinking therefore I exist' 'I think therefore I am' scepticism metaphysical revolutionary ideas origins modern thought intellectual biography Stephen Gaukroger "> <META http-equiv="description" content="RedFish BlueFish film about Columbia River Salmon because we can find no better way to get Pacific Northwest wheat to it's export market. Four dams on the Lower Snake River allow grain to be shipped to Portland from as far away as the Idaho border. The many metaphors allow discussion of philosopy of Rene Descarte and Isaac Newton, geometry and number, ecology and economy"> </HEAD> <body bgcolor="FFFFFF" text="000000" link="0000FF" vlink="FF0000" alink="0000FF"> <basefont face="Arial, Tahoma, Times New Roman" size="3" color="#000033"> <TABLE border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0"> <TR align="left" valign="top"> <td><small> <A href="https://a566616.sites.myregisteredsite.com/thefilm.htm">the film</A><br> <A href="forum.htm">forum</A><br> <A href="library.htm">library</A><br> <A href="tutorial.htm">tutorial</A><br> <A href="contact.htm">contact</A> </small></td> <TD> <A href="cartesia.htm"><img src="images/cartesia.gif" border="0" width="110" height="110" align="center" alt="Geometric ideas and concepts"></a> <TD> <CENTER><STRONG><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica" COLOR="0000FF"> <H1 align="center">René Descartes</H1>Father of Modern Philosophy </FONT></STRONG><BR><FONT COLOR="FF0000">from cover sleeve of Descartes an Intellectual Biography by Stephen Gaukroger</FONT> </TABLE> <HR><P align="left"> <img src="hsReneDe.jpg" align="right" alt="René Descartes (1596-1650) is the father of modern philosophy, and one of the greatest of all thinkers."> René Descartes (1596-1650) is the father of modern philosophy, and one of the greatest of all thinkers. This is the first intellectual biography of Descartes in English; it offers a fundamental reassessment of all aspects of his life and work. Stephen Gaukroger, a leading authority on Descartes, traces his intellectual development from childhood, showing the connections between his intellectual and personal life and placing these in the cultural context of seventeenth-century Europe. <P> Descartes' early work in mathematics and science produced ground-breaking theories, methods, and tools still in use today. This book gives the first full account of how this work informed and influenced the later philosophical studies for which, above all, Descartes is renowned. Not only were philosophy and science intertwined in Descartes' life; so were philosophy and religion. The Church of Rome found Galileo guilty of heresy in 1633; two decades earlier, Copernicus' theories about the universe had been denounced as blasphemous. To avoid such accusations, Descartes clothed his views about the relation between God and humanity, and about the nature of the universe, in a philosophical garb acceptable to the Church. His most famous project was the exploration of the foundations of human knowledge, starting from the proof on one's own existence offered in the formula <I>Cogito ergo sum</I>, 'I am thinking therefore I exist'. Stephen Gaukroger argues that this was not intended as an exercise in philosophical scepticism, but rather to provide Descartes' scientific theories, influenced as they were by Copernicus and Galileo, with metaphysical legitimation. <P> This book offers for the first time a full understanding of how Descartes developed his revolutionary ideas. It will be a landmark publication, welcomed by all readers interested in the origins of modern thought. <P> <CENTER><FONT COLOR="0000FF">Chronological table of Descartes' life and works<BR></FONT> <SMALL><FONT COLOR="FF0000">from Descartes Selected Philosophical Writings, Translated by Cottingham, Stoothoff, Murdoch</FONT></SMALL></CENTER><BR> <TABLE border="0" width="90%" cellspacing="0"> <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1596 <TD align="left">born at La Haye near Tours on 31 March <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1606-1614 <TD align="left">attends Jesuit college of La Fleche in Anjou <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1616 <TD align="left">takes doctorate in law at University of Poitiers <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1618 <TD align="left">goes to Holland; joins army of Prince Maurice of Nassau; meets Isaac Beeckman; composes a short treatise on music, the <I>Compendium Musicae</I> <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1619 <TD align="left">travels in Germany; 10 November: has vision of new mathematical and scientific system <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1622 <TD align="left">retuns to France; during next few years spends time in Paris, but also travels in Europe <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1628 <TD align="left">composes <I>Rules for the Direction of our Native Intelligence</I>; leaves for Holland, which is to be his home until 1649, though with frequent changes of address <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1629 <TD align="left">begins working on <I>The World</I> <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1633 <TD align="left">condemnation of Galileo; abandons plans to publish <I>The World</I> <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1635 <TD align="left">birth of Descartes' natural daughter Francine, baptized 7 August (died 1640) <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1637 <TD align="left">publishes <A href="http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/text/descart/des-meth.htm" TARGET="any_window">Discourse on the Method</A>, with <I>Optics</I>, <I>Meteorology</I> and <I>Geometry</I> <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1641 <TD align="left"> <A href="http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/text/descart/des-med.htm" TARGET="any_window">Meditations of First Philosophy</A> published, together with <I>Objections and Replies</I> (first six sets) <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1642 <TD align="left">second edition of <I>Meitations</I> published, with all seven sets of <I>Objections and Replies</I> and <I>Letter to Dinet</I> <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1643 <TD align="left">Cartesian philosophy condemned at the University of Utrecht; Descartes' long correspondence with Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia begins <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1644 <TD align="left">visits France; <I>Principles of Philosophy</I> published <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1647 <TD align="left">awarded a pension by King of France; publishes <I>Comments on a Certain Broadsheet</I>; begins work on <I>Description of the Human Body</I> <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1648 <TD align="left">interviewed by Frans Burman at Egmond-Binnen (<I>Conversation with Burman</I> <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1649 <TD align="left">goes to Sweden on invitation of Queen Christina; <I>The Passions of the Soul</I> published <TR align="center" valign="top"> <TD align="left">1650 <TD align="left">dies at Stockholm on 11 February </TABLE> <HR><P align="center"><CENTER> <BIG><STRONG>See what you can learn</STRONG></BIG><P> <A href="topic.htm">learn more on topics covered in the film</A><BR> <A href="https://a566616.sites.myregisteredsite.com/video.htm">see the video</A><BR> <A href="script.htm">read the script</A><BR> <A href="songs.htm">learn the songs</A><BR> <A href="forum.htm">discussion forum</A><BR> <IMG src="salmon_swimming_md_wht.gif" width=150 height=70 alt="salmon animation"> </CENTER> </basefont> </body> </HTML>