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Rene Descartes photo by Frans Hals-

Top 10 Facts about Rene Descartes

Rene Descartes was widely known as the father of 鈥�modern western philosophy鈥�. However, apart from being a leading philosopher he also played a key role in the development of mathematics by being a pioneer of analytic geometry.

He initially spent a large portion of his working life in the Dutch Republic serving the Dutch states Amy of Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, and the Stadtholder of the United Provinces.

Descartes was a licensed lawyer but he never practiced law. Furthermore, there is a conspiracy theory according to which he was a Catholic spy.

1. His Mother Died Soon After She Gave Birth To Him

Rene Descartes photo by Unknown-

Rene Descartes was born on 31^st March 1596 in La Haye en Touraine a small town in central France. He was the youngest of three children of Joachim Descartes and his wife Jeanne Brochard.

His father Joachim was a councilor in the Parliament of Brittany in Rennes while his mother Jeanne died within a year of giving birth to him.

He was raised by his maternal grandmother in La Haye and then by his great uncle in Chatelleraunt.

However, Descartes was a weak and sickly child and due to his fragile health, his education was postponed for a few years. At the age of 8, he was admitted to the Jesuit College Royal Henry Le Grand at La Fleche in the year 1607.

After his graduation in the year 1614, he entered the University of Poitiers where he studied for two years and took a Law degree in the year 1616.

2. He Was Mentored By Isaac Beeckman

Rene Descartes photo by Eutouring-

At the age of 22, Descartes volunteered to fight for the protestant Dutch States Army in Breda under the command of Prince Maurice of Nassau.

Though he was a soldier his duties were more oriented toward engineering. However, at Breda, he met one of the leading mathematicians of then Isaac Beeckman.

Beeckman acted as a mentor to Descartes where he conveyed his scientific knowledge to him and together they worked on free fall, catenary, conic section, and fluid statics.

3. Descartes Believed He Had Prophetic Dreams Which Led Him To the Path Of Knowledge

Rene Descartes photo by Rijksmuseum-

While he served as a soldier of the Duke of Bavaria, Descartes was stationed in Neuburg an der Donau.

To keep warm, he shut himself in a room with an oven. More so it was here that he had his famous three dreams which according to him provided him with a mission in life.

He believed that a divine spirit revealed to him a new philosophy through his dreams however he took from the message that he should set out to reform all knowledge.

Descartes believed that his achievements in philosophy and mathematics were a result of these dreams.

Furthermore, the dreams made him realize that all truths were linked with one another so as to find a basic truth, and proceeding with logic would open the way to all science.

And as a result, this made him discover his famous basic truth 鈥�I think, therefore I am鈥�.

4. There Is a Theory That Suggests That He was a Catholic Spy

Rene Descartes photo by Unknown-

Rene Descartes left Breda to join the Catholic army of Maximillian I, Duke of Bavaria in the year 1619.

He was present at the battle of the white mountain which was an essential battle in the early stages of the thirty-year war which was between protestant and Catholic states.

However soon after the battle, he quit being a soldier, and well-known British philosopher and author A. C. Grayling suggested in his book that Descartes was a Jesuit spy.

Grayling theorized that Descartes was somehow engaged in intelligence activities or personal work to reclaim for Catholicism those parts of Europe lost to Protestantism.

5. Rene Descartes Popularized the Saying 鈥�I think, therefore I am鈥�

The saying was originally written in French as 鈥�Je pense donc Je Suis.鈥� and it was printed in his first published book entitled 鈥�Disclosure on the Method 鈥渨hich was published in the year 1637.

However, the statement was later translated to Latin to fit his other book 鈥�Principles of Philosophy.鈥� Furthermore, this statement was a vital component of Western philosophy and it is said to create a foundation for knowledge in the face of doubt.

6. He Exchanged Philosophical Letters with Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia

Rene Descartes visited the Hague to find support for his philosophical work simply because it was a gathering place for leading intellectual figures and powerful men in the Netherlands.

However, it was here that he met Princess Elisabeth and she took interest in the work of Descartes. In the year 1643 Princess Elisabeth began her famous correspondence with Descartes which lasted till his death in the year 1950.

More so she questioned Descartes’s idea of dualism which meant the mind is separate from the body. However, she asked him how the soul could determine bodily spirits.

Descartes connected with his compatibility with Elisabeth he published his work titled Passions of the soul which he dedicated it to the princess.

7. There is a Conspiracy Theory that Entails that Descartes was Assassinated

In the year 1649 Descartes had become famous throughout Europe for being one of the continent鈥檚 greatest philosophers and scientists.

During the same year, Queen Christiana of Sweden wanted him to organize a new scientific academy there as he tutors her in his ideas about love Descartes agreed and he moved there.

Queen Christina had a strict schedule and she made Descartes wake up before 5:00 AM to come to her castle in the cold. However, Descartes contracted pneumonia on February 1 in the year 1650 and he died in Stockholm on February 11 at the age of 53.

Furthermore, German scholar Theodor Ebert believes that Descartes didn鈥檛 die out of natural causes he died out of being poisoned by a Catholic priest simply because Descartes’s radical ideas threatened an expected conversion to Catholicism by the monarch of protestant Sweden.

8. He was considered the Father of Modern Western Philosophy

The discourse on the method by Descartes was published in the year 1637. The book contains the best-known philosophical statement 鈥�I think, therefore I am鈥�.

However, he further explained this statement as; if he doubted, then something or someone must be doing the doubting therefore the very fact that he doubted proved his existence.

He published Meditations on the first philosophy in the year 1641.

The book contains six meditations in which Descartes first discards all beliefs in things that are not absolutely certain and then tries to establish what can be known for sure.

Furthermore, the method and meditations are regarded as among the most influential works in the history of philosophy, and Descartes is considered the father of modern western philosophy.

9. Descartes had a Child with a Dutch Servant Girl

Descartes never married but he had an intimate relationship with Helena Jas Van der Storm who was a Dutch servant girl working for the bookshop owner with whom Descartes was lodging in Amsterdam in the year 1634.

However, when Descartes moved to Deventer Helena went with him and the couple had a daughter named Francine Descartes who was born on 19^th July in the year 1635.

Though his daughter was an illegitimate child her baptism in Deventer was recorded among the legitimate births in the year 1635.

Furthermore, Descartes was planning to ring his daughter to France to get her educated but she died of scarlet fever at the age of 5.

10. He Moved to Different Places and Worked on Books while at it

Descartes moved to the Netherlands in the year 1630 where he wrote The Optics and The Metrology. However, both of them were said to be inclusions in the book The World.

After two years Descartes relocated to Deventer where he penned Treatise on Man which is also thought to be in the chapter in the book 鈥�Le Monde鈥�.

In conclusion, Rene Descartes as the father of modern philosophy helped shape the subject to how it is studied today whereas with his unique approach to seeking answers to age-old questions.

Yet still, his contributions to the field of philosophy and math remain to be unmatched.