# René Descartes

- Id: `descartes`
- Canonical url: `https://prokopton42.com/en/thinkers/descartes/`
- Language: `en`
- Editorial status: `available`
- Content checksum: `3e8fc2eb95c9479bd9840730ab24c0c9307edd04d4af98d76eda053e6626c25c`

## Summary

A source-bounded Descartes persona grounded in all 212 articles of The Passions of the Soul, with the 1649 French text and a reviewed English representation for every article.

## The central idea

Methodical doubt separates what survives examination, then rebuilds knowledge without confusing certainty, body, and passions.

## Overview

Descartes died in Stockholm on 11 February 1650.

## Lifespan

```json
{
    "display": "1596-1650",
    "era": "Early modern period",
    "distance": "376–430 years ago",
    "age_at_death": 54
}
```

## Intellectual tradition

```json
{
    "id": "modern-philosophy",
    "name": "Modern and contemporary philosophy",
    "detail": "Rationalism, mind and passions",
    "labels": [
        "Modern and contemporary philosophy",
        "Rationalism, mind and passions"
    ]
}
```

## Historical cutoff

```json
{
    "year": 1650,
    "display": "1650 CE",
    "reason": "Descartes died in Stockholm on 11 February 1650."
}
```

## Statistics

```json
{
    "works": 1,
    "passages": 212,
    "languages": [
        "en",
        "fr"
    ],
    "intellectual_exposures": 2,
    "typed_relationships": 1
}
```

## Historical landmarks

```json
[
    {
        "kind": "birth",
        "title": "Birth",
        "period": "31 March 1596",
        "description": "Location retained by the dossier: La Haye en Touraine, France.",
        "fact_status": "approximate",
        "confidence": "B",
        "source_label": "René Descartes",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "La Haye en Touraine",
        "period": "1596",
        "description": "Birthplace, now named Descartes. The point identifies the town, not an exact house.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: René Descartes",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "La Flèche",
        "period": "1606/1607-1614/1615",
        "description": "Descartes studied at the Jesuit college through its grammar, philosophy and mathematics curriculum.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: René Descartes",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "Poitiers",
        "period": "1616",
        "description": "He obtained a law degree here and did not proceed to legal practice.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: René Descartes",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "Breda",
        "period": "1618",
        "description": "Military service and the documented encounter with Isaac Beeckman shaped Descartes's early mathematical physics.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: René Descartes",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "Paris",
        "period": "1625-1628; later visits",
        "description": "Work with the mathematical and natural-philosophy circle around Marin Mersenne before the long Dutch residence.",
        "fact_status": "scholarly_consensus",
        "confidence": "B",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: René Descartes",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "Franeker",
        "period": "1629",
        "description": "First documented Dutch residence; Descartes registered at the university in April 1629.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: René Descartes",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "death",
        "title": "Death",
        "period": "11 February 1650",
        "description": "Location retained by the dossier: Stockholm, Sweden.",
        "fact_status": "approximate",
        "confidence": "B",
        "source_label": "René Descartes",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    }
]
```

## Temperament review

```json
{
    "profile_id": "rene-descartes-temperament-v1",
    "overall_confidence": "C",
    "confidence_meaning": "convergence of primary text and near-contemporary testimony",
    "observation_count": 2,
    "source_count": 2,
    "basis": "The 212 admitted articles of The Passions of the Soul provide direct argumentative evidence. The profile describes a way of conducting dialogue, never private psychology."
}
```

## Places

```json
[
    {
        "name": "La Haye en Touraine",
        "period": "1596",
        "description": "Birthplace, now named Descartes. The point identifies the town, not an exact house.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    },
    {
        "name": "La Flèche",
        "period": "1606/1607-1614/1615",
        "description": "Descartes studied at the Jesuit college through its grammar, philosophy and mathematics curriculum.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    },
    {
        "name": "Poitiers",
        "period": "1616",
        "description": "He obtained a law degree here and did not proceed to legal practice.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    },
    {
        "name": "Breda",
        "period": "1618",
        "description": "Military service and the documented encounter with Isaac Beeckman shaped Descartes's early mathematical physics.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    },
    {
        "name": "Paris",
        "period": "1625-1628; later visits",
        "description": "Work with the mathematical and natural-philosophy circle around Marin Mersenne before the long Dutch residence.",
        "confidence": "B",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    },
    {
        "name": "Franeker",
        "period": "1629",
        "description": "First documented Dutch residence; Descartes registered at the university in April 1629.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    },
    {
        "name": "Stockholm",
        "period": "1649-1650",
        "description": "Descartes accepted Queen Christina's invitation, prepared statutes for a royal academy and died here on 11 February 1650.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/"
    }
]
```