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Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences pp 1–9Cite as

Descartes, René (1596–1650): His Scientific Work and Its Reception

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Introduction

René Descartes (1596–1650) is often presented as the founder of the “dualistic” thesis radically separating the soul from the body, in early modern philosophy. As such, he is likely to have initiated two kinds of revolutions: a revolution in the study of nature and living being (understood as inanimate), on the one hand, and a revolution in the study of the human mind (understood as the foundation of all knowledge), on the other. This entry focuses on his scientific work and overall reception, as a way of understanding the interaction of these two fields.

Scientific themes occupied a structuring place in Descartes’ intellectual biography. They are at the heart of two major tensions. The first is between the importance Descartes attaches to these themes early on and the time he takes to make his results public. And the second one concerns the highly controversial dimension of these themes.

First, Descartes abandoned the publication of The World (or Treatise on Light) and...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut d’Histoire des Représentations et des Idées dans les Modernités (IHRIM, UMR 5317 and LabEx COMOD), ENS Lyon, Lyon, France

    Delphine Antoine-Mahut

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  1. Delphine Antoine-Mahut
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Correspondence to Delphine Antoine-Mahut .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Dana Jalobeanu

  2. Dept. of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Ghent University Dept. Philosophy & Moral Sci, Ghent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium

    Charles T. Wolfe

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  1. Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaires en Sciences Humaines et Sociales (CRISES), Paul Valéry University, Montpellier, France

    Delphine Bellis

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Antoine-Mahut, D. (2021). Descartes, René (1596–1650): His Scientific Work and Its Reception. In: Jalobeanu, D., Wolfe, C.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20791-9_608-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20791-9_608-1

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