Cartesianism

Cartesianism is the school of philosophy based on the fundamental philosophical principles of the great French philosopher René Descartes. Descartes lived from 1596 to 1650, and published his major philosophical works, Discourse on Method, Meditations on First Philosophy and Principles of Philosophy, in 1637, 1641 and 1644 (respectively). At the time, the dominant philosophical school was that of Scholastic (Aristotelian) philosophy. Descartes studied Scholastic philosophy, and become deeply dissatisfied with it, at a very young age. Believing that all human knowledge could be either reiforced or polluted by philosophical principles on which it rested, Descartes resolved to establish a new philosophical system from the ground up.

Though, contrary to Descartes' hopes, his philosophy was poorly received by the existing educational institutions, Descartes' work exercised an enormous influence throughout Western Europe. Even today, his Meditations is often taken as the starting point for modern philosophy. The great thinkers of the 17th and 18th centuries (Locke, Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant, etc.) can all be mapped on the basis of their reactions to Descartes' system. Because his thoughts inspired such dramatic resistance and development among those thinkers, however, the fact is often overlooked that in the decades following his major publications, a large number of philosophers devoted themselves to understanding and defending his philosophy.

This article describes the basic principles subscribed to by most Cartesians, and discusses some of the central debates.