Book 3: Chapter 9, Descartes Summary and Analysis

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was considered to found modern philosophy. His views were based on his predecessors to some extent but he attempted to make a completely new system, encouraging progress of science. He wrote more as an explorer than a teacher in an easy style that was communicated to intelligent men rather than students. His father was a councilor of the Parliament in Brittany. After Descartes inherited his property he sold it and invested it. He studied between 1604 and 1612 at the Jesuit college of La Fleche, gaining good mathematical knowledge. After staying in Paris in 1612 he settled in the Fabourg Saint Germain, where he did geometry work. He then enlisted in the Dutch army in 1617 and then in the Bavarian Army in 1619. He went to Italy, and stayed in Paris in 1625. In 1628 he joined the army fighting...