Rene descartes biography essay introduction sample

Amongst the galaxy of French thinkers, philosophers, and writers, Rene Descartes stands as one of the tallest luminaries.

René descartes contribution to philosophy

This essay covers a brief perspective of Descartes, his life, contributions, and effects on modern society. His analytical thinking and interests in wide-ranging fields of science, mathematics, and philosophy soon had the fertile young thinker producing many works that have had far-reaching effects to date. In philosophy, Descartes formulated the concept of methodical skepticism.

Rationality as a precept of life propounded by Descartes was used as the basis by other rationalist philosophers and indeed became the founding philosophy for the nation-states to develop. It is not a matter of accident that the Peace of Westphalia was signed in This treaty marked the formation of modern nation-states as we know it with clearly defined geographical boundaries with common ethnic or religious groupings forming the polity of such states.

It can be argued that the rationalism of Descartes, did in many ways contribute to that momentous event. Deriving from his philosophy of rationality and rational thinking, Descartes expanded his investigation of Geometry to create the science of Analytical geometry. Cartesian geometry that is taught to date in schools was completely a Descartes creation.

Though Descartes lived in the Early Modern period, his thoughts and writings were termed by many as revolutionary and at times proscribed by the authorities.