1596 – 1650

René Descartes

Worth knowing

A French philosopher and mathematician, educated by the Jesuits at La Flèche, who did most of his work in the Netherlands.
He tried to doubt everything he could, and found one thing he could not doubt: that he himself was thinking. "I think, therefore I am."
His Meditations (1641) go on from there to argue that God exists and that the soul is distinct from the body.
He died in Stockholm in 1650.

In Scholar’s Dream, René Descartes has two books

Meditation II: On the Human MindRené Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, Meditation II: Of the Nature of the Human Mind (1641)Rationality

Meditation III: Of GodRené Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, Meditation III: Of God, That He Exists (1641)Natural Theology

René Descartes’s quotes in the game

Every quotation from René Descartes that a player meets in Scholar’s Dream, attached to the move that says it. Or see them as a plain list →

In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other, and each thing a book can do in a debate is called a move. Every quote below is spoken by one of those moves. Open “How it works in the game” under a quote to see the move, which books learn it, and which arguments it answers best.

“It must, in fine, be maintained, all things being maturely and carefully considered, that this proposition (pronunciatum) I am, I exist, is necessarily true each time it is expressed by me, or conceived in my mind.”
René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, Meditation II §3 (trans. John Veitch, 1853/1901), public domain.public domain

How it works in the game: the move I Am, I Exist

RationalityArgument · power 82 · 100% accurate

In the gameIn the Meditations, Descartes is careful not to make this an argument with a therefore. Even if he is deceived about everything, a thing that is deceived must exist. That much survives every doubt.

Learned byMeditation II: On the Human Mind (Lv 1)

“By the name God, I understand a substance infinite, eternal, immutable, independent, all-knowing, all-powerful, and by which I myself, and every other thing that exists, if any such there be, were created… And thus it is absolutely necessary to conclude, from all that I have before said, that God exists.”
René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, Meditation III §22 (trans. John Veitch, 1853/1901), public domain. (trimmed quote)public domain

How it works in the game: the move Not From Myself Alone

Natural TheologyArgument · power 80 · 100% accurate

In the gameThe idea of an infinite, perfect being is sitting in a finite, imperfect mind, and Descartes asks where it came from. A cause must contain at least as much reality as its effect — so something that small could not have invented something that large.

Learned byMeditation III: Of God (Lv 1)

Who else was alive

René Descartes against everyone else in the game.

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Boethius Boniface John of Damascus Daniel of Winchester Timothy I Alcuin of York Pope Leo III Eulogius of Córdoba Paul Alvaro of Córdoba Rimbert Humbert of Silva Candida Michael Cerularius Peter III of Antioch Anselm of Canterbury Ari Thorgilsson Ebo and Herbord Thomas Aquinas John Wyclif Lorenzo Valla Girolamo Savonarola Pope Paul III Martin Luther Miles Coverdale William Tyndale Emperor Charles V John Calvin Teresa of Ávila John Jewel The Council of Trent The English exiles at Geneva Hugo Grotius René Descartes John Owen Blaise Pascal John Bunyan Louis XIV of France Pierre Bayle Joseph Butler Jonathan Edwards Thomas Reid George Campbell William Paley John Henry Newman J. C. Ryle Friedrich Nietzsche James Orr B. B. Warfield Herman Bavinck W. R. Sorley James Denney J. Gresham Machen

Solid bar = firm dates · faded = approximate51 authors sit outside this window