Descartes' Era: Philosophy, Science, and 17th Century Europe
Historical Context of René Descartes
Descartes' Life and Major Works
René Descartes, born on March 31, 1596, in La Haye en Touraine (now Descartes), France, studied at the Royal College of La Flèche. In 1616, he graduated in law from the University of Poitiers. Between 1620 and 1628, he traveled extensively in Germany, Italy, Holland, and France. In 1629, he retired to Holland, where he wrote and published his major works:
- Discourse on the Method (1637)
- Meditations on First Philosophy (1641)
- Principles of Philosophy (1644)
He died on February 11, 1650.
17th Century Europe: A Period of Change
Descartes' life coincided with the genesis of modern Europe, marked by the emergence of powerful nations like France, England, and Holland. The seventeenth century was a period of depression and stagnation, characterized by frequent famines and widespread epidemics. Absolute monarchies maintained lavish courts and incurred exorbitant expenditures on military activities. It was also the era of the Counter-Reformation, aiming to restore Christian unity.
Descartes lived through the Thirty Years' War, a Catholic-Protestant conflict that concluded with the Peace of Westphalia (1648), establishing a European crisis of conscience in the seventeenth century.
Philosophical Context and Descartes' Impact
The Rise of Modern Philosophy and Science
The seventeenth century, often called the Baroque era, marks the rise of modern philosophy, which begins with Descartes and is intimately connected with the triumph of modern science. Figures like Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler, straddling the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, laid the foundations for the new experimental science. This era saw the triumph of a new method, where science and mathematics became a new model.
Key Philosophical Streams: Rationalism & Empiricism
Rationalism and Empiricism, two major philosophical streams, shared a common concern for method and the theory of knowledge, asserting that knowledge can only be acquired through ideas. Both streams are divided into:
Rationalism: Core Principles
- Source of knowledge contents: the subject itself.
- Knowledge is knowable.
- Legitimation of knowledge lies in rational demonstration.
- Existence of innate ideas.
- Active role in knowledge acquisition.
Empiricism: Core Principles
- Source of knowledge: experience.
- Legitimation of knowledge resides in experience itself.
- Rejection of innate ideas; all ideas are acquired through experience.
Descartes' Central Contributions to Philosophy
Descartes' philosophy:
- Places the epistemological question at the center of philosophy.
- Gives primacy to the subject in the act of knowing.
- Demonstrates absolute confidence in reason.
- Emphasizes the necessity of a method.
Descartes raised his arguments against skepticism and against scholastic philosophy, which he considered only served to dispute and discuss everything with the mere appearance of truth. In 1637, he published his seminal work, Discourse on the Method.