Rene Descartes, or Renatus Cartesius, was one of the dominant philosophers in his time and now known as the father of modern Philosophy. Apart from being a philosophist, Descartes was also known as a writer, mathematician, and scientist.
His perspective was, most of the time, contradictory to his predecessors. Descartes always viewed his writings to be one of a kind, unique works where nobody has composed ever before. Despite this, influences from Augustine and Aristotle were manifested in some of his philosophical writings — the 16th-century stoicism revisions.
His statements on natural philosophy and philosophy taught in schools are not the same in two aspects. The first aspect was his opposition against the corporeal substance analysis of forms and matters. Secondly, he refused to believe in the natural or divine ends that explained the natural phenomena. Furthermore, he stood firm on God’s complete freedom for creation.
Descartes was called the modern thinker, for he had established the framework of natural sciences. He attempted to produce an original set of ideologies, where anyone could believe as accurate, on his Meditations on First Philosophy work. He also established the methodological skepticism where he hesitated to accept any doubtful thoughts so that a strong foundation on authentic knowledge was possible.
Initially, Descartes concluded that the principle of thought existed. It served as a proof of existence for any form of view cannot be separated from a human being. This was called cogito ergo sum in his Meditations on First Philosophy work. Hence, he claimed that his existence was truthful.
Even though using the senses had low reliability on perceiving a body, Descartes’ statements were based on this. He stated that his thinking was not doubtful, which he considered being his source of knowledge. Consequently, he described thought as becoming instantly conscious of everything that happens outside the body where the mind is conscious of the surrounding at the same time. The process of thinking is a human activity that attracts consciousness immediately.
Then, he used the Wax argument to illustrate the limitations of his senses. Through the wax example, Descartes used his feelings to identify the wax’s characteristics; shape, texture, color, smell, etc. As soon the wax got exposed to heat, its characteristics changed. The wax melted, but it was the same wax; however, the senses have already sent him the information that the wax’s characteristics have been altered. Therefore, for him to discern the nature of the wax, he did not rely on his senses but his mind. Through this, he understood the nature of the wax through his mind’s judgment rather than using his sense of vision.
Rene Descartes strengthened his knowledge system. A system that neglects the idea of thinking as unreliable and abstraction that worked as a technique. As you go through his work Meditations on First Philosophy, you will find out that he also provided ontological evidence of God’s kindness. He expressed that God has never deceived him and fed him with his sensory system and mind. Eventually, this became controversial because he believed in God’s benevolence evolved from his arguments about doubting perceptions. By this surmise, he had ultimately concluded the possibility of knowledge possession of the world by using both perception and deduction.
In Descartes’ system, any form of thought is to knowledge, and the philosophical investigation contemplates these ideas.
