Early philosophy reloaded
Rene Descartes was a French philosopher and one of the greatest minds of the 17th century, and is often referred to as 'the father of modern philosophy' in the post-Athenian era.
At his time he was one of the leading thinkers in European thought, and it well known for his saying 'Cogito ergo sum' (I think therefore I am).
He was the first to break out of The Matrix thought of Aristotelianism by rejecting the mind-body dualism, and by arguing that that the body and mind are two independent things, as well as bringing explanations of nature from a mode of cause and effect to a much more scientific method.
His greatest works include a lot of writings for both philosophy as well as mathematics. His greatest work in my opinion is 'Meditations on First philosophy' as it remains one of the finest works and is used by all philosophy departments in every college in the world. That is testament to the evergreen nature of his work.
Many a college student has penetrated deep into the existence of the soul, the connection between body and mind and even into modern movies that Descartes inspired like The Matrix and more recently the Ghost In The Shell.
Unfortunately during his era his writings were not seen as inspiring by the divine religions of his time, and he suffered persecution terribly right up to his eventual death. Now that sounds like a 17th century Morpheus in The Matrix to me!
His other major works that I recommend are:
- Geometry (1637),
- Compendium Musicae (1618)
- Principles of Philosophy (1641)
Muse on my philosophical Steemians!