THE 4 MOST IMPORTANT INVENTIONS OF RENÉ DESCARTES - SCIENCE - 2025

The inventions of René Descartes, father of modern philosophy, marked the end of ancient and medieval thought. The creation of the deductive reasoning method, metaphysical dualism and the mechanistic model, among others, stands out.

Descartes has been defined as the man who dared to put himself at the source of everything, in the middle of the ideas that were clearly established at the time.

For this eminent thinker, the foundations of knowledge that had been accepted by his predecessors were wrong.

Rationalism is the support of his work, which allowed him to build a new philosophical structure.

The inventions and contributions of the French philosopher extended to physics, psychology, mathematics and all expressions of science in general.

Western modern philosophy is the result of the contributions of Descartes.

The 4 main inventions of René Descartes

1- The universal method of deductive reasoning

The philosopher of method stripped science of the rigor of the scholastic method.

His project postulated a common general method in its rules for all sciences, according to which doubt is the best way to arrive at certainty.

The core of Descartes' rationalism is based on the fact that the structure of human reason is capable of being applied to the knowledge of all objects. That is the lifeblood of all sciences.

The fundamental reference of the rational method was mathematics, this is because only this science is capable of giving true, evident and exact demonstrations.

This is how he proposed the decomposition of every complex problem into its simplest parts to reach a solution.

Then, he made the mathematical method, the method of everything real, the unifying principle of all sciences, the basis of all research processes.

2- The analytic and Cartesian geometries

When Descartes formulated his Cartesian project for the elaboration of a universal science, supported by mathematics as a paradigm, he created a kind of universal mathematics freed from numbers and figures: analytical geometry.

This was a method that consisted of solving geometric problems algebraically and algebraic problems geometrically.

Cartesian geometry and exponential notation, invented by Descartes, is the algebraic system that is taught in schools today.

3- The metaphysical or Cartesian dualism

This is a postulate that distinguishes between mind, matter, and God.

According to this theory, the body functions as a machine that has divisible material properties and a mind (soul), an indivisible substance that does not follow the laws of physics.

Body and mind interact through the pineal gland. This is how dualism occurs: the mind controls the body and, in turn, the body can influence the rational mind. Mind and matter are proofs of the existence of God.

This is how the philosopher, based on his rationalism, establishes the metaphysical foundations that support the existence of God, the mind and the material world.

4- The mechanistic model

This invention is an important contribution to physics or natural philosophy. It consists of the formulation that everything that exists in the universe, except the human soul, can be reduced to matter in motion.

Descartes' mechanistic model is later supplemented by Galileo Galilei, to become the basis of modern mechanism.

References

1. Descartes, René Du Perron. (sf). Retrieved on October 22, 2017 from: encyclopedia.com
2. Rene Descartes. (August 15, 2013). In: newworldencyclopedia.org
3. Smith, K. (2007/2017). Destartes´ Theory of ideas. In: plato.stanford.edu
4. Watson, R. (June 19, 2017). René Descartes: French mathematician and philosopher. In: britannica.com
5. Wilson, F. (nd). René Descartes: Scientific method. Retrieved on October 22, 2017 from: iep.utm.edu