- Rene Descartes was born on the 31st of March 1596 in La Haye.
- His mother died shortly after his birth. So he was sent to live with his grandmother until his father remarried.
- Descartes came from a noble family of mostly lawyers and doctors.
- He was sent to a Jesuit college at La Fleche in 1607 where he participated in philosophical, mathematical, verbal arts, and of course the usual courses.
- He graduated La Fleche in 1614 with knowledge in courses such as metaphysics, natural philosophy and ethics.
- Descartes became a volunteer for the army of Maurice of Nassau.
- During his time here he met Isaac Beekman, it was Beekman who helped him realize the possibilities by applying mathematics to other fields.
- He began to work on a method entitled Rules for the Direction of the mind, from 1620 to abandoning it in 1628.
- He wrote Discourse on Method in 1637 to help explain a wide variety on phenomena.
- This included Geometry, Dioptics, and Meteors.
- It was in 1639 the Descartes started working on Meditations on First Philosophy.
- The first edition being published in Latin in 1641, a second was published in 1642 but this time included a letter to Fr Drinet where he defended this philosophy against religious unorthodoxy.
- He also published the textbook Principals of Philosophy in Latin in 1644 that begins with “that whoever is searching after truth must, once in his life, doubt all thing; insofar as is possible”
- A discussion with Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia in 1643 lead to his last piece of work, Passions of the Soul.
- This work was to discuss morals and the nature of passion and emotion.
- The Queen of Sweden had talked to Descartes about the morals and absolute good which lead to her invitation for Descartes to join her in Stockholm.
- He had accepted the offer and in September 1649 had arrived.
- His decision to go to Sweden had lead to his downfall.
- Descartes died on February 11, 1650 of pneumonia.
