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René Descartes was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathematics was central to his method of inquiry, and he connected the previously separate fields of geometry and algebra into analytic geometry. Descartes spent much of his working life in the Dutch Republic, initially serving the Dutch States Army, later becoming a central intellectual of the Dutch Golden Age. Although he served a Protestant state and was later counted as a Deist by critics, Descartes was Roman Catholic.
Reason is the capacity of applying logic consciously by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, mathematics, and art, and is normally considered to be a distinguishing ability possessed by humans. Reason is sometimes referred to as rationality.
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Rational egoism is the principle that an action is rational if and only if it maximizes one's self-interest. As such, it is considered a normative form of egoism, though historically has been associated with both positive and normative forms. In its strong form, rational egoism holds that to not pursue one's own interest is unequivocally irrational. Its weaker form, however, holds that while it is rational to pursue self-interest, failing to pursue self-interest is not always irrational.
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In his final philosophical treatise, The Passions of the Soul, completed in 1649 and dedicated to Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, René Descartes contributes to a long tradition of philosophical inquiry into the nature of "the passions". The passions were experiences – now commonly called emotions in the modern period – that had been a subject of debate among philosophers and theologians since the time of Plato.
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world. Someone who studies metaphysics can be called either a "metaphysician" or a "metaphysicist".
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The Stoics believed that the practice of virtue is enough to achieve eudaimonia: a well-lived, flourishing life. The Stoics identified the path to achieving it with a life spent practicing certain virtues in everyday life such as courage or temperance and living in accordance with nature. It was founded in the ancient Agora of Athens by Zeno of Citium around 300 BC.
Common sense is sound, practical judgement concerning everyday matters, or a basic ability to perceive, understand, and judge in a manner that is shared by nearly all people.
References
- ↑ "Animal Cognition". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. 2021.
- ↑ Aristotle, Ethics (1976) p. 75 and p. 88.
- ↑ B. P. Stigum, Econometrics and the Philosophy of Economics (2003) p. 194.
- ↑ Stigum, p. 198.
- ↑ L. Johnson, Power Knowledge Animals (2012) p. 80.
- 1 2
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Man". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. - ↑ The Philosophical Writings of Descartes Volume II. Translated by John Cottingham, Robert Stoothoff, Dugald Murdoch. Cambridge University Press. 1984.
- ↑ S. Freud, On Psychopathology (PFL 10) p. 247.
- ↑ D. Attenborough, Life on Earth (1992), ch. 13.
- ↑ Alfred Schutz, The Phenomenology of the Social World (1997) p. 240.
- ↑ A. Giddens, Positivism and Sociology (1974) p. 72.
- ↑ Russell, Bertrand (1943). An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications. OCLC 3656132.
