This March 31 marks the 427th anniversary of the birth, in 1596, of René Descartes. The French philosopher, mathematician and physicist is recognized as the father of modern thought and analytical geometry.
One of the highest representatives of Rationalism, in his writings he relates philosophy to science. His thought is built on the basis of reason and takes the mathematical method as a model, thus breaking with medieval scholasticism.
In “Method Discourse” His masterpiece, exposes four rules with which he intends to achieve the same certainty in all areas of knowledge that arithmetic and geometry provide in the mathematical field.
He established a dualism between the soul and the body that translates into one of his most famous formulations: “I think, therefore I am”. For Descartes, the human being exists and is a thinking and spiritual substance, and part of this premise to elaborate all his philosophy.
On this anniversary we review a dozen of his many famous quotes.
– “Philosophy is what distinguishes us from the savages and barbarians; Nations are all the more civilized and cultured the better their men philosophize.
– “Doubt is the beginning of wisdom”.
– “Two things contribute to progress: go faster than the others, or go on the right track”.
– “Feeling is nothing other than thinking”.
– “To investigate the truth it is necessary to doubt, as much as possible, all things”.
– “Bad books cause bad habits and bad habits cause good books”.
– “True intelligence consists in discovering the intelligence of others”.
– “I would give everything I know for half of what I don’t know”.
– “Even a false happiness is usually preferable to a true sadness”.
– “Traveling is almost the same as conversing with people from other centuries”.