Rene Descartes
...ch could be applied to all forms of science. “School had made Descartes understand how little he knew, the only subject which was satisfactory in his eye was mathematics.” (O’Connor 1). In his quest for knowledge, Descartes came across many different people, namely one German mathematician named Johann Faulhaber. Faulhaber was a Rosicrucian who had expressed optimism about the ability of science to improve the human condition by making life longer and making people healthier. Around the same time, an English philosopher Francis Bacon was proposing that a new science of observation and experiment should replace the traditional Aristotelian science. Descartes also felt that things needed to change from the teachings of Aristotle. In 1622, Descartes returned to Paris where he became friends with Claude Mydorge and Father Marin Mersenne, who was Descartes intellectual contact to the world. It was through Mersenne’s network of intellectuals that he came across the Cardinal de Berulle, who had founded the Oratorian teaching order in 1611. After a secret meeting with Berulle, Descartes moved to the Netherlands, and stayed there for 16 years, out of speculated fear of the mystical and militant Berulle. Descartes claims that he moved there to be able to clear his thoughts and be an original thinker, outside all of the distractions of Paris. While in the Netherlands, Descartes wrote Le Monde, or The World. However, it was not published until 1664 because he feared that his views may land him in jail, much like the astronomer Galileo Galilei. “He feared the church, be he also hoped that his physics would one day replace Aristotle’s in church doctrine.” (Descartes, Rene 5). In 1637 Descartes published Discours de la methode, or Discourse on Method, which was written in French and intended for the common man to be able to read. He felt that everyone should be able to think for themselves and determine what is right and wrong, true and false, through reason and logic. He went on to write Dioptrics, which is about the law of refraction. After that, he wrote Meteorology, in which he explained how the rainbow works. He then went on to write Geometry, in which he showed how to represent geometric figures with algebraic equations. He also introduced the idea of representing known numerical quantities with a, b, c… and unknowns as x, y, z. He also wrote about squares, cubes, and other powers with numerical superscripts, which made writing algebraic problems less problematic. After that, he wrote Discourse and Rules for the Direction of the Mind, which was written in 1628 but was not published until 1701. In these works, Descartes list four basic rules for reasoning; accept nothing as true that is not self-evident; divide problems into their simplest parts; solve problems by proceeding from simple to complex; and then recheck the reasoning. “For Descartes all knowledge was like a tree – with metaphysics forming the roots, physics the trunk, and medicine, mechanics, and morals the branches – on which the fruit of knowledge is produced.” (Descartes, Rene 5). He would later go on to write Meditations, which explains h...