Philosophy of Descartes

The philosophy of René Descartes is that from which rationalism originated. This philosopher was also known as a wonderful mathematician. Many thinkers based their reasoning on the thoughts that Descartes once wrote. "The First Principles of Philosophy" is one of his most famous treatises.

First of all, Descartes is famous for proving the importance of reason in the process of cognition, putting forth the theory of born ideas, the doctrine of substances, its modes and attributes. He is also the author of the theory of dualism. Pulling out this theory, he wanted to reconcile the idealists and materialists.

Philosophy of Descartes

The fact that reason is the basis of knowledge and being, Descartes argued as follows: in the world there are too many phenomena and things, the essence of which is impossible to understand, this complicates life, but it gives the right to raise doubts about what seems simple and understandable. From this we can conclude that doubts always exist under any circumstances. Doubt is a property of thought - able to doubt, knows how to think. Only a person who really exists can think , which means that thinking is both the basis of being and cognition. Thinking is the work of the mind. From this we can conclude that it is reason that is the root cause of everything.

In studying the philosophy of being, the philosopher wanted to derive a basic concept that could characterize the whole essence of being. As a result of long reflection, he deduces the concept of substance. Substance - this is something that can exist without outside help - that is, for the existence of a substance you do not need anything but yourself. The described quality can have only one substance. It is called God. God is eternal, incomprehensible, omnipotent and is the absolute prime cause of everything.

He is the creator who created the world, which also consists of substance. The substances created by them can also exist on their own. They are self-sufficient only with respect to each other, and with respect to God they are derived.

The philosophy of Descartes divides the secondary substances into:

- material;

- spiritual.

He also distinguishes the attributes of both genera of the substance. For material - it's an attraction, for spiritual - thinking. The philosophy of Descartes asserts that man consists of both spiritual and material substances. In principle, this is what distinguishes it among other living beings. Proceeding from this, the idea of dualism, that is, the duality of man, is born. Descartes asserts that there is no point in looking for an answer to the question, what is the primary cause: consciousness or matter. Both are connected only in man, and since that is dualistic - they simply can not be the original cause. They always existed and are different sides of one being. Their relationship is obvious.

Asking questions about knowledge, Descartes focuses on the scientific method. He believed that this method was used in mathematics, physics and other sciences, but in philosophy he was not used. In other words, he believed that with the help of him you can discover something really new. As a scientific method, he used deduction.

The philosophy of Descartes contains the doctrine of innate ideas. The whole point is that we get some knowledge in the process of cognition, but there are also some that are obvious and do not need either study or proof. They are called axioms. These axioms can be concepts or judgments. Examples of concepts:

- God;

- soul;

Is a number.

Examples of judgments:

- to be and not to be simultaneously impossible;

- the whole is always more than a part;

Nothing can come out of nothing.

Note that this philosopher was a supporter of practical, and not abstract knowledge. He believed that the nature of man must be improved.