Descartes

“Cogito Ergo Sum" which means "I think, therefore I am” is the philosophical statement said by the French philosopher, mathematician, scientist and writer Rene Descartes. “The Father of ModernPhilosophy” as he is referred to. He was born on March 31st, 1596 in the town of La Haye in the south of France. Rene was the youngest of three children. Son of Joachim Descartes, a Councilor of theprovincial parliament and Jeanne Brochard who died in childbirth when he was only one year old. After his mother's dead, Rene together with his brother Pierre and sister Jeanne were sent to live with hermaternal grandmother, Jeanne Sain. Jeanne raised them even after their father remarried. It is thought that Rene was a sickly child but not much is known about his childhood.
The Descartes family wascomposed of mostly doctors and some lawyers. Joachim Descartes wanted to provide his children with the best learning environment, that is why at the age of eight Rene attended to the Jesuit college ofHenri IV in La Flèche, a French school managed by the military where he studied literature, grammar, science, and mathematics. Eight years later in 1614, he left to the University of Pointiers tostudy Civil and cannon Law to fulfill his father's wishes of becoming a lawyer. In 1616, Descartes earned a Baccalaureat and Lincese in Law. He also spent time studying philosophy, theology, and medicine.In the year 1618, Rene volunteered to become part of the army of Maurice of Nassau. During this time he met the person who had the most important influence on his early adulthood, Isaac Beekman, aDutch mathematician and natural philosopher. Beekman proposed a difficult mathematical problem and it was Descartes who found the solution for it. Descartes used his spare time to study mathematics andalong with Beekman believed it was necessary to create a method that linked mathematics and physics together. Beekman guided Rene who started to work on mathematical and mechanical problems before...