Modern philosophy begins with Rene Descartes.
Descartes was born in 1596, received an outstanding education, developed independence of mind, became a soldier and traveled widely in Europe. He became fascinated with the question of how we can actually know anything for certain. This was the dominating question of his life.
He went into seclusion in Holland, remaining there for 20 years and during this time he produced great works on mathematics and philosophy, as well as science. Descartes invented coordinate geometry and each graph, which the individual looks at, has its roots in Descartes brilliance.
The Cartesian coordinates of the geometric graph even bear Descartes name. His Discourse on Method was written in 1637 and his Meditations was written in 1642. He never married and had an illegitimate daughter. It is said of Descartes that he preferred men of affairs rather than scholars.
At the age of 54 he went to reside in Stockholm at the request of the Queen, but it was a tragic decision since he contracted and died of pneumonia while there.
