Descartes
Profoundly influenced by Euclid, Descartes was a rationalist who invented the foundationalist system of philosophy. He used the method of doubt, now called Cartesian doubt, to systematically doubt everything he could possibly doubt, until he was left with what he saw as purely indubitable truths. Using these self-evident propositions as his axioms, or foundations, he went on to deduce his entire body of knowledge from them. The foundations are also called a priori truths. His most famous proposition is I think, therefore I am, or Cogito ergo sum.
Read more about this topic: First Principle
Famous quotes containing the word descartes:
“Good sense is of all things in the world the most equally distributed, for everyone thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that even those most difficult to please in all other matters do not commonly desire more of it than they already possess.”
—René Descartes (1596–1650)
“All that is very clearly and distinctly conceived is true.”
—René Descartes (1596–1650)
“it is not possible for there to be in us any thought of which, at the moment it is in us, we are not conscious.”
—René Descartes (1596–1650)