PERIODS OF PHILOSOPHY

Greco-Roman 625BC – 525AD;

Medieval 1000 -1350AD;

Renaissance 1350-16^th Century AD (a “Renewal” and advancement of the Greco-Roman);

Reason & Enlightenment 17^th & 18^th Centuries;

Post-Enlightenment 19^th Century AD;

Modern 20^th Century to date.

RENE’ DECARTES: A GREAT EXAMPLE OF A “PHILOSOPHE”

As a philosopher: “I think therefore I am.” and is recognized by many as “The Father of Modern Philosophy.”

As a mathematician:  Created the Cartesian Coordinate System – three axes (x, y, z) mutually perpendicular to each other, upon which he expressed algebraic equations as graphs (y = ax² is a parabola, y = a/x is a hyperbola, y = ([radius]² – x²)^½ is a circle.  This is analytic geometry, or “pre-calculus”, and was the major influence on Isaac Newton’s invention of the Calculus.

As a physicist his major works were in optics: discovered the Law of Reflection and calculated that the angle of the peak of rainbow relative to the horizontal is always 42 degrees, in part by asserting that sunlight is bent by raindrops.

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