Sasha Otanez

Ren Descartes

Every part of the world lives by their own philosophy. The British
culture fundamentals are based off of Aristotle, biology, and poetry,
and the German culture fundamentals are based off of Socrates,
chemistry, and music. The French culture fundamentals are based off
of Plato, math, and painting. The French are dedicated to the logical
exploration of tasks, and is the culture is based upon platonic
philosophy. In France Descartes is a national hero and an intellectual
idol; the French culture is the culture of Descartes.
Ren Descartes was born into a wealthy family in 1596 in
Touraine, France. His mother died a year after his birth from
tuberculosis and his father was a lawyer and also died when he was
young. His extended family took care of him and he received an
inheritance from both of his parents. This made him able to live a life of
travel and studies, free from the pressure of making a living. He had a
very good education at a Jesuit college at La Fleche where he studied
Greek, Latin, history, liberal arts, science, mathematics, and
philosophy. His two loves were philosophy and math. There is much
debate among philosophers whether Descartes was a mathematician
first or a philosopher. A main belief is that Descartes was a
mathematician first, which influenced his philosophy. Descartes had a

major health issue that affected most of his life he had a very strong
allergy and suffered from lung disease. His lifestyle was influenced
greatly by his allergies. He spent a lot of time indoors, was selfconfident, and liked to be alone. Descartes never married, except he
had a six-year relationship with Princess Elizabeth who was the
daughter of the dethroned queen of Bohemia. In his late 40s he got a
proposal from a Swedish princess to be her mentor. He had wanted the
money and agreed. This became possibly Descartes biggest mistake.
The Baltic Sea is very foggy and windy and this was worse for his
allergies and he got a cold, which turned into pneumonia. He then
moved back to France and died at the age of 54, ending his life
prematurely.
The epistemology of Descartes starts with the first question of
what I can know 100%; do we know the quality of things around us
completely? Descartes says that we can never be totally sure of reality.
He backs this up by saying that in between dreams, the moment in
between our dream and becoming fully awake, we arent sure of what
is real and what isnt. Within those few moments of waking up we are
never sure if the dream we had is our current reality, or just a dream.
Descartes also says that we dont even know our bodies completely. If
we did, we would never have to go to a doctor and could cure
ourselves of mostly anything. Descartes likes killing certainty after
certainty, but says Cogito, ergo sum. The famous phrase translated

is I think, therefore I am. Descartes means that mental existence is

more certain than our bodily existence. We cannot doubt our own
existence, as we are conscious thinking people; our own awareness of
thinking proves our existence. Descartes says, Whatever I do, I, at the
same time, think about what I do as another proof of existence. This
means that we are constantly always thinking about our actions even
while we are doing them. His next point is the idea that what a person
thinks happens is much more important then what actually happened.
This means that a persons interpretation and reactions to a situation
matter more then the actual situation. He says that the physical fact of
what happened is undeniable but how a person understands the
situation can be completely different. The reality of things is what we
make it. For example to Descartes, it doesnt matter that an argument
took place, what matters is how we decide to react. Whether we cry on
the couch and stay indoors or go out to a club and enjoy the night is
far more important then what caused those decisions. Descartes also
states that what we think about the events in the world is much more
important then the events in the world itself. This way of thinking is
very French as it has less focus on what happened and more focus on
an appropriate reaction. This means that it is more important what
your personal reaction is to world events then what actually happened.
It is not enough to hear about the events in the world, we need to react
and our understanding of it is what actually matters. For example, if

there is a mass shooting event, it doesnt matter if you have heard

about it, what matters is what youre going to do about it, whether it is
ignoring it, fighting to make a change, or remaining neutral completely.
Descartes explains what the structure of our thinking is. He says
that our thinking consist of two levels; a priori (the before experience),
and a posteriori (the after experience). Descartes says that the a priori
is given to us by God and that God gives every newborn human
person, regardless of race and gender, a gift of logical structure. The
structure is the exact same in every human. Humans collect a
posteriori after birth in addition to experience and communication.
Descartes says that because all humans have the a priori, the same
logical structure, it is how we can communicate with each other. Even
though humans have a posteriori that is shaped by our different
experiences, the a priori is why we can still communicate, even in the
simplest of ways like body language.
Descartes introduces his Coherence Theory of Truth. He noticed
that sensational proof is never accurate and is imperfect. He states
that pure logic is the only proof, and that factual proof is imperfect
because it can be challenged. If everything could be proved then we
wouldnt have a criminal justice system or need defense lawyers
because they wouldnt have anything to prove. This is different than
David Humes philosophy, which believes that the origin of human
knowledge is sensual experience and that sensual experience is the

evidence, not logic. Descartes uses mathematics to back up his

statement. He cannot believe in the sensual evidence of math
equations, instead he focuses the breaking down of equations as his
logical proof.
The Ontology of Descartes starts off by stating that there are two
Is in me. The first I is the body in space which is characterized by
being male, engineering, manipulative, aggressive, reversible, and
active. The second is the soul in time which is female, passive,
irreversible, compassionate, and generous. The body in space deals
with our bodily needs such as sleep and hunger. Our soul in time is
what we actually want to do. Descartes calls the coexistence of our
body and our soul is dualism. The two conflict but they coexist, like the
concept of the Yin and the Yang. The two concepts are similar in that
they both are split into female and male traits being contradicting
opposites. Descartes says that the essence of man is his body because
it manipulates space, and that the essence of woman is her memory.
Descartes introduces the 6th proof of Gods existence. Thomas
Aquinass philosophy deals with the five proofs of Gods existence. The
first is the Argument from motion that brings up the question of who
moves God? He believes that there is a bad infinity; an infinity with no
end is bad and it is the explanation of God. Thomas says that no one
moves God; every physical thing needs movement except God. God
started the movement of the universe. The second point is the

Cosmological Argument. It states that God is the first cause of the

Universe, answering the question what causes us and where do we
come from. The third is the Argument of Necessity. This says that
every physical thing is incidental but the universe is the sum total of
physical things, which means that the universe is identical. Everyone is
incidental but somebody has to be absolutely necessary and that is
God. Thomas says that God can change everything such as
movements and laws to make life easier but he wont. The fourth point
is the Argument of Gradation, which introduces the concept of
evolution. Thomas says that after the evolution of humans what is next
are angels and then God, meaning that God is the most perfect being.
The last point is the Teleological Argument that brings up the issue that
to have an order you must have someone to maintain the order of wild
nature and protect it against self-destruction and chaos. This makes
God the master of the Universe. Descartes agreed with Thomas
Aquinas five points but said that they were not sufficient and added his
own proof. Descartes states that God is limitless and perfect but
humans are limited and imperfect. He says that as humans our
essence is the want to be perfect and limitless but our outward is
imperfect and limited. He says that our souls have a longing for
perfection and that we always strive to have more. Humans strive to
have unlimited perfection even though we cant. He calls this strive a
spark, saying I find inside my soul a spark which does not belong to

me. His 6th proof is that God is that spark within us. Even though
humans are limited we find a yearning want in our soul to reach
perfection and Descartes refers that feeling to God.
Descartes was a father of the modern Western philosophy and
had a very large impact on the French culture. He also was the original
archetype of the rationalist. Descartes stands out amongst most
philosophers as he refuses to believe anything that he cannot prove
himself. Descartes made a huge impact on both the mathematical and
philosophical world.