Descartes

American  

[dey-kahrt, dey-kart] / deɪˈkɑrt, deɪˈkart /

noun

1. René 1596–1650, French philosopher and mathematician.

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Descartes British  

/ ˈdeɪˌkɑːt, dekart /

noun

1. René (rəne). 1596–1650, French philosopher and mathematician. He provided a mechanistic basis for the philosophical theory of dualism and is regarded as the founder of modern philosophy. He also founded analytical geometry and contributed greatly to the science of optics. His works include Discours de la méthode (1637), Meditationes de Prima Philosophia (1641), and Principia Philosophiae (1644)

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Descartes Scientific  

/ dā-kärt′ /

1. French mathematician and philosopher who discovered that the position of a point can be determined by coordinates, a discovery that laid the foundation for analytic geometry.

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Example Sentences

Mr. Pollan blames Western science, and especially Galileo and Descartes, for dividing the mind from the body, and humans from everything else.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026

Let’s give the last word, plus one of mine, to the famous phrase of French philosopher and scientist Rene Descartes: “Cogito ergo sum ridens” — “I think, therefore I am laughing.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2025

Aristotle believed that animals and humans share similar emotions while Descartes argued that animals were more like machines, lacking the capacity for emotions or consciousness.

From Science Daily • Nov. 14, 2024

In 1641, French philosopher René Descartes, writing his famous “Meditations on First Philosophy,” observed that a mind is fundamentally different from the body which contains it.

From Salon • Nov. 10, 2024

Why could Descartes not bear the simple truth, that much of what he knew he had learnt from Beeckman?

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton