René Descartes

High school (ages 12+)
Thinking & Learning

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Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/ren-descartes

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was René Descartes born?March 31, 1596
2. Where was René Descartes born?La Haye en Touraine, France
3. What is the career?Philosopher, mathematician, scientist
4. Who was René Descartes?René Descartes was a French thinker from the 1600s who changed how people think about knowledge and math. He is known as the father of modern philosophy and for inventing a new way to use numbers and geometry together.
5. What does 'Cogito, ergo sum' mean?It means 'I think, therefore I am.' Descartes discovered that because he could doubt and think, he must exist as a thinker.

Rationalism: A philosophical approach that emphasizes reason as the primary source and test of knowledge.
Epistemology: The branch of philosophy concerned with the theory of knowledge, its nature, scope, and justification.
Cartesian Dualism: The philosophical concept that the mind and body are two fundamentally different kinds of substances.
Analytic Geometry: A system that uses algebraic equations to represent geometric shapes and solve geometric problems.