Rene Descartes

Darryl Rainey

René Descartes

Born on March 31st, 1596 in the town of La Haye located in the southern part of France, Rene Descartes is one of the most highly acclaimed mathematicians. Descartes was more or less forced into the life intelligence. Descartes father was Joachim Descartes and he made certain that his son had an exceptional learning environment. In 1606, at the age of eight, Descartes attended the Jesuit college of Henri IV in La Fleche. There, he studied literature, grammar, science, and mathematics. In 1614 Descartes left La Fleche to study law at the University of Poitiers. Descartes later stated that his formal education provided little of substance, and that only mathematics provided any real knowledge. Descartes was only at Poitiers for three years before he left to volunteer in the Dutch Army. And over the course of eleven years Descartes travelled all over Europe. He settled in the Netherlands in 1628.

Descartes had a minute history in the Army. Resources show that Descartes had a series of dreams while in the army. Descartes interpreted these dreams as signs that he would found a universal science. It is not known for certain why Descartes had these dreams, but it is well known that he was correct about the signs.

Descartes had numerous influences in mathematics. The most important influence in Descartes’ career was the mathematician Issac Beeckman. Issac Beeckman helped stimulate Descartes by supplying a series of problems and discussing issues in physics and mathematics.

It was thanks to this influence that Descartes published his first major philosophical work, “A Discourse on Method, Meditations on First Philosophy.” He published this in the year of 1641. Around this time traditional ideas were heavily questioned. So Descartes sought to devise a method that would assist all in reaching the truth. It was around this time that Descartes introduced his famous Latin phrase “cogito ergo sum”, “I think, therefore I am.”

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