Tree of knowledge (philosophy) explained
The tree of knowledge or tree of philosophy is a metaphor presented by the French philosopher René Descartes in the preface to the French translation of his work Principles of Philosophy to describe the relations among the different parts of philosophy in the shape of a tree. He describes knowledge as a tree. The tree's roots are metaphysics, its trunk is physics, and its branches are all other sciences the principal of which are medicine, mechanics and morals.[1] [2] This image is often assumed to show Descartes' break with the past and with the categorization of knowledge of the schools.[3]
Description
Descartes is often regarded as the first thinker to emphasize the use of reason to develop the natural sciences.[4] For him, philosophy was a thinking system that embodied all knowledge, as he related in a letter to a French translator:[5]
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External links
Notes and References
- Web site: Hatfield . Gary . René Descartes . . Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University . 2018.
- Web site: Skirry . Justin . Descartes, Rene . Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Ariew . Roger . Descartes and the tree of knowledge . Synthese . 1 July 1992 . 92 . 1 . 101–116 . 10.1007/BF00413744 . 46962659 . en . 1573-0964.
- Book: Grosholz, Emily . Cartesian method and the problem of reduction . Emily Grosholz . 978-0-19-824250-5 . 1991 . Oxford University Press . But contemporary debate has tended to...understand [Cartesian method] merely as the 'method of doubt'...I want to define Descartes' method in broader terms...to trace its impact on the domains of mathematics and physics as well as metaphysics..
- Web site: Descartes . René . Veitch . John . John Veitch (poet). Letter of the Author to the French Translator of the Principles of Philosophy serving for a preface . 6 December 2011.
