René Descartes: 17th Century Context & Philosophical Impact

René Descartes: Historical & Philosophical Foundations

The 17th Century: A Turbulent Era

The life of René Descartes unfolded almost entirely within the seventeenth century. This era can be broadly characterized by widespread wars, devastating plagues, and significant economic and demographic crises.

Political Landscape

Politically, the seventeenth century was marked by the triumph of absolute monarchy, with Spain and France serving as prime examples. The most significant conflict was the Thirty Years' War, fueled by the rivalry between Catholics and Protestants. Descartes himself participated in this war.

Social Dynamics

Socially, the nobility began to lose prominence to the rising commercial bourgeoisie during this period.

Economic Challenges

Economically, the century initially saw a spectacular development of trade. During the 17th century, France, England, and Holland joined the colonial ventures initiated by Spain and Portugal in the 16th century. However, widespread wars, pestilence, and a succession of poor harvests led to a severe economic crisis. Famine raged in many parts of Europe, causing immense loss of life.

Cultural Flourishing & Scientific Revolution

Culturally, the seventeenth century was a period of great splendor. In countries like Spain, it would later be known as the Golden Age. It marked the apogee of the artistic style known as Baroque. The 17th century was also the heyday of the new science: the Scientific Revolution, initiated by Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, culminated in the late 17th and early 18th centuries with Isaac Newton.

This era saw the abandonment of the geostatic and geocentric conception of the world, the completion of a corpuscular-mechanical image of nature (whose laws could be expressed in mathematical language), and the refinement of the experimental method, which yielded fruitful results in the natural sciences.

Philosophical Currents of the 17th Century

Philosophically, the 17th century is most noteworthy for the birth of two major movements: Rationalism and Empiricism. These schools of thought centered on the controversial subject of the origin of knowledge.

Rationalism

Rationalism posits that reason is the primary source of genuine human knowledge.

Empiricism

Empiricism, by contrast, argues that the only source of human knowledge is the senses.

Descartes' Enduring Influence on Modern Philosophy

Both Rationalists and Empiricists, despite their differences, shared some fundamental assumptions with the philosophy of René Descartes, who is widely considered the father of modern philosophy. These shared tenets include:

The Subjectivist Turn

Both Rationalists and Empiricists adopted a subjectivist turn. In their pursuit of knowledge, they shifted focus from external objects (as was traditional) to the ideas formed within the mind of the subject.

Truth as Certainty

They shared a conception of truth as certainty. They believed that truth is an inherent property of ideas themselves, making them appear as indubitable to our understanding.

Fascination with Mathematics

All were enticed by the self-evident nature of mathematical truths and their deductive method.