Rene Descartes
...of all trades", making major contributions to the areas of anatomy, cognitive science, optics, mathematics and philosophy. He has been referred to as the father of modern rationalism, soldier of fortune, scholar, pilgrim, traveler, and a firm adherent of the Roman Catholic faith.
He was educated at the Jesuit college of La Fleche in Anjou. He entered the college at the age of eight years, just a few months after the opening of the college in January, 1604. At La Fleche, Descartes formed the habit of spending the morning in bed. His health was poor and he was allowed to remain in bed until 11 o'clock in the morning. This habit and custom he maintained until the year of his death. While in bed he engaged in systematic meditation. During his meditations, he was struck by the sharp contrast between the certainty of mathematics and the controversial nature of philosophy. He came to believe that the sciences could be made to yield results as certain as those of mathematics. While at La Fleche he studied classics, logic and traditional Aristotelian philosophy. He also learned mathematics from the books of Clavius.
Descartes left La Fleche in 1612. He spent the next 16 years traveling, contemplating, and corresponding. School had made Descartes understand how little he knew. The only subject which was satisfactory in his eyes was mathematics. This idea became the foundation for his way of thinking, and was to form the basis for all his works. He spent some time in Paris; apparently keeping very much to himself. He studied at the University of Poitiers. He received a law degree from Poitiers in 1616. Immediately following his studies he set out for the Netherlands and the Dutch army. In 1618 he started studying mathematics and mechanics under the Dutch scientist Isaac Beeckman. It was at this point that he began to seek a unified science of nature. After two years in...
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