Descartes

[ dey-kahrt; French dey-kart ]

noun

1. Re·né [r, uh, -, ney, r, uh, -, ney], 1596–1650, French philosopher and mathematician.

Descartes

/ dekart; ˈdeɪˌkɑːt /

noun

1. DescartesRené15961650MFrenchPHILOSOPHY: philosopherSCIENCE: mathematician René (rəne). 1596–1650, French philosopher and mathematician. He provided a mechanistic basis for the philosophical theory of dualism and is regarded as the founder of modern philosophy. He also founded analytical geometry and contributed greatly to the science of optics. His works include Discours de la méthode (1637), Meditationes de Prima Philosophia (1641), and Principia Philosophiae (1644)

Descartes

/ dā-kärt′ /

1. French mathematician and philosopher who discovered that the position of a point can be determined by coordinates, a discovery that laid the foundation for analytic geometry.

Example Sentences

What Descartes meant is the only thing I’m absolutely sure of is my own consciousness.

From Nautilus

We are not the beast machines of Descartes, for whom life was irrelevant to mind.

From Nautilus

Newton used a variety of empirical data, from the satellites of Jupiter and the regular motion of planets and comets through space, to refute Descartes’ theories.

From Nautilus

This idea of so-called “impact motion” through “corporeal vortices” was challenged by some of Descartes’ near contemporaries, most notably Isaac Newton.

From Nautilus

Descartes approached his problem by pointing out that the longevity of ancient philosophical doctrines, and their evident lack of consensus, is based on the absence of precise thinking.

From Nautilus

She gives no nods to the Humanists, like Montaigne, Francis Bacon, Erasmus, or Descartes.

From The Daily Beast

A city at its best, wrote the philosopher René Descartes, provides “an inventory of the possible.”

From The Daily Beast

Somewhere, Descartes must be mulling a new declaration for the modern era: I emit carbon dioxide, therefore I am.

From The Daily Beast

He was the friend of Descartes, and a philosopher; distinguished for his eloquence and as an author.

From Project Gutenberg

The prime fact in philosophy was to him, as to Augustine and Descartes, the certainty of individual consciousness.

From Project Gutenberg

The following is an argument of Descartes to prove, in his priori manner, the being of a God.

From Project Gutenberg

Fénélon could not have persuaded him; but Descartes might have influenced him.

From Project Gutenberg

He did not make a system, like Descartes or Spinoza or Newton: he showed the way to make it on sound principles.

From Project Gutenberg