Descartes viewed that the whole of human knowledge was a tree, with each part relying on the others for the purposes of functioning - and, in a philosophical sense, validity. The tree's trunk was comparable to physics. The branches Descartes considered to be the applied sciences of morals, medicine, and mechanic. The roots of the tree provided support and nourishment to the whole of the system; these roots, Descartes

Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz are often accurately portrayed as the key figures representing the Continental rationalism. Continental rationalism is characterized by a belief that truth can be deduced from human reason, and that certain innate, or self-evident ideas form the basis for such knowledge. In contrast, British empiricism saw the source of knowledge could be found in experience and through the senses. While the works of Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz

Philosophy and Psychology of the Mind and Body Throughout human history, philosophers, doctors, and most recently, psychologists, have attempted to understand the relationship between the mind and body and how it results in human beings' awareness and perception of reality. At least since the golden age of Greek philosophy, thinkers have been aware of an ostensible distinction between the mind and body, a distinction that nonetheless allows for some intermingling such

Since this simplifies and organizes our experience of the world, it is wiser to accept the value of truth of this belief. If Russell questioned the existence of matter, Aristotle was concerned with its nature. According to him, all the things which come into existence must come from a substratum (which is the very nature of matter). Nevertheless, should this underlying matter of the universe come from another, already-existing underlying

Relationship of Certainty to God From Descartes Compare With Gassedi, Pascal, and Spinoza The French philosopher Rene Descartes was one of the most transformational figures of his time and his work is now considered one of the pillars of modern Western philosophy. Descartes was the first to eloquently describe the issues that are related to the problem of how the mind and brain function, how they are related, and the mysterious

As experiments became more complex, however, especially noting embryonic development, scientists found that the process that occurs in vitro parallels the evolutionary process of nerve system complexity, and then becomes more qualitative in that not every aspect of thought can be explained by a simple combination of neurotransmitters (neuron coded molecules) or electrical events. While it is true that the electrical even between two cells allows for communication, the subtle