1596-1650
“I think; therefore I am.” Rene’s contemplation of the nature of exixtence lead to this great observation. He is considered the father of modern philosophy because his ideas were more abstract than current understanding in the early 17th century.
- Unlike early philosophy which was more feeling based, Rene considered the essence of existence and the mind-body duality. Dualism, matter meeting non-matter, identified the pineal gland as the point of contact between the body and the soul.
- He believed that in order to grasp a clear understanding of something one must put away the senses and use his mind.
- Descartes argued further that human beings can be conditioned by experience to have specific emotional responses.
- He introduced Cartesian geometry in which a coordinate graphing system makes visible , using points, lines, and curves, the numerical relationships of algebraic expressions.
- He also introduced the concept of the momentum of a moving body, which he defined as the product of the mass of the body and its speed.
