Rene Descartes

brain in a vat

reality

solipsism

Valentine's Day

reason

cogito

metaphysics

philosophy

David Hume

trolley problem

one-liner

mind-body problem

theology

Immanuel Kant

Joe Rogan

philosopher

resemblance

Karl Marx

Arthur Schopenhauer

Gen Z

Zoomer

is responsible for the reduction of the world to data via representation whereby things are seen not in terms of resemblance or visual picturing, as we might expect, but rather as a kind of modeling, framing, ordering, and thus projecting of the world in a normative fashion.

Descartes' mathematisation of knowledge provided the conditions of possibility for reducing the world to a schema, a set of standards or norms. It is nota representation, in the sense of a repetition of presence as with the earlyGreeks or early Christians, but literally a re-presentation of the world. ForHeidegger, it involves a projection of what-is (Heidegger 1977a:l 44). Thusmodern Cartesian representation is not concerned with a visual picturing, withmimesis, but rather with a modelling or framing of the world. It is the reductionof the world to data.

is wrongheaded not only in that he believed to have had direct access to the substantial ego, conceived as a part of the world, but he believed, no less wrongly, that a nonintentional cogito was possible, that he could observe his own consciousness as a pure act of cognitatio without cogitatum. For intentional analysis, however, there is no pure act of cogito without an object.

And thus has the second blunder of Descartes been uncovered. Descartes not only wrongly be lieved to have had direct access to the substantial Ego, conceived as a part of the world, but he believed, no less wrongly, that a nonintentional cogito was possible, that he could observe his own consciousness as a pure act of cognitatio without cogitatum. For intentional analysis, however, there is no pure act of cogito without an object. (kolakowski 'husserl' 64)

is wrongheaded not only in that he be lieved to have had direct access to the substantial ego, conceived as a part of the world, but he believed, no less wrongly, that a nonintentional cogito was possible, that he could observe his own con.

is responsible for having attempted to apply mathematical reasoning to all sciences after recognizing the certainty of the conclusions in geometry and arithmetic, which brought out in his mind the contrast between the true and false ways of seeking the truth.

Among the earliest thinkers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, who employed their mental powers toward the destruction of old ideas and the up-building of new ones, ranks Rene Descartes. Though he professed orthodoxy in faith all his life, yet in science he was a profound sceptic. He found that the world's brightest thinkers had been long exercised in metaphysics, yet they had discovered nothing certain; nay, they had even flatly contradicted each other. ...The certainty of the conclusions in geometry and arithmetic brought out in his mind the contrast between the true and false ways of seeking the truth. He thereupon attempted to apply mathematical reasoning to all sciences. His philosophy has long since been superseded by other systems, but the analytical geometry of Descartes will remain a valuable possession forever. His Geometry is not easy reading. An edition appeared subsequently with notes by his friend De Beaune, which were intended to remove the difficulties.

Analytical geometry was invented by Descartes and the first exposition of it was given in 1637: that exposition was both difficult and obscure, and to most of his contemporaries, to whom the method was new, it must have been incomprehensible. Wallis made the method intelligible to all mathematicians.

is responsible for having applied algebra to geometry—an application which has furnished the key to the greatest discoveries in all branches of mathematics.

As long as algebra and geometry travelled separate paths their advance was slow and their applications limited. But when these two sciences joined company, they drew from each other fresh vitality and thenceforward marched on at a rapid pace towards perfection. It is to Descartes that we owe the application of algebra to geometry,—an application which has furnished the key to the greatest discoveries in all branches of mathematics.

is a philosopher who is remember for the sovereignty of technique but, it is rarely remembered, that in the end, he recognizes, through his skepticism, that it would be an error to suppose that the method can ever be the sole means of inquiry.

Descartes … is distinguished from Bacon in respect of the thoroughness of his education in the Scholastic philosophy and in the profound impression that geometrical demonstration had upon his mind, and the effect of these differences in education and inspiration is to make his formulation of the technique of inquiry more precise and in consequence more critical. His mind is oriented towards the project of an infallible and universal method or research, but since the method he propounds is modelled on that of geometry, its limitation when applied, not to possibilities but to things, is easily apparent. Descartes is more thorough than Bacon in doing his scepticism for himself and, in the end, he recognizes it to be an error to suppose that the method can ever be the sole means of inquiry. The sovereignty of technique turns out to be a dream and not a reality. Nevertheless, the lesson his successors believed themselves to have learned from Descartes was the sovereignty of technique and not his doubtfulness about the possibility of an infallible method.

is responsible for having broken with the Greek tradition of admitting only the first, second, and third powers ('lengths,' 'areas,' and 'volumes') in geometry, recognizing that representability as figures in Euclidean space for all of the terms in an equation is irrelevant to the geometrical interpretation of the analysis.

Descartes devised the notation x, x2, x3, x4,... for powers, and made the final break with the Greek tradition of admitting only the first, second, and third powers ('lengths,' 'areas,' and 'volumes') in geometry. After Descartes, geometers freely used powers higher than the third without a qualm, recognizing that representability as figures in Euclidean space for all of the terms in an equation is irrelevant to the geometrical interpretation of the analysis.

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