PHIL 2010H Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Analytic Geometry, Protestantism
Document Summary
At the time, was a major physicist. His work was largely rejected by the religious authorities. He moved to the netherlands, which was more protestant and liberal, for this reason. Invited by queen christina of sweden to give her philosophy lessons at 5am daily, then. Descartes came down with an illness and died. Descartes complained much about school, especially philosophy, because there seemed to be so much disagreement and no concrete answer. His favorite subject was math, and he paid attention to how the mathematicians followed through with their system. Proofs used often; series of statements leading to theorem. Certainty: beliefs can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Systematicity: all proven beliefs are connected in a systematic way through proofs. Cumulativity: the systems can be constructed instrumentally over time by adding various truths. Descartes said that when using this method, it is important to use individual ideas instead of combining these ideas with those of other people.