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Rene Descartes

Rene Descartes Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous Rene Descartes Quotes

“Archimedes, that he might transport the entire globe ... demanded only a point that was firm and immovable; so also, I shall be entitled to entertain the highest expectations, if I am fortunate enough to discover only one thing that is certain and indubitable.”

IfsEnoughMightCertainOne ThingHighestExpectationsFirmFortunateGlobesEntitledTransport
Book:Discourse On Method, Meditations And Principles: Descartes : Discourse On Method
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“I suppose therefore that all things I see are illusions; I believe that nothing has ever existed of everything my lying memory tells me. I think I have no senses. I believe that body, shape, extension, motion, location are functions. What is there then that can be taken as true? Perhaps only this one thing, that nothing at all is certain.”

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Author:Rene Descartes
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“But I cannot forget that, at other times I have been deceived in sleep by similar illusions; and, attentively considering those cases, I perceive so clearly that there exist no certain marks by which the state of waking can ever be distinguished from sleep, that I feel greatly astonished; and in amazement I almost persuade myself that I am now dreaming.”

FeelsHas BeensStatesDreamCertainSleepForgetCasesIllusionMarkPerceiveWakingConsideringDeceivedDistinguishedAmazement
Book:The Rationalists: Descartes: Discourse on Method & Meditations; Spinoza: Ethics; Leibniz: Monadolo gy & Discourse on Metaphysics
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“If we possessed a thorough knowledge of all the parts of the seed of any animal (e.g. man), we could from that alone, be reasons entirely mathematical and certain, deduce the whole conformation and figure of each of its members, and, conversely if we knew several peculiarities of this conformation, we would from those deduce the nature of its seed.”

IfsMenReasonWholeCertainNatureAnimalFiguresMembersMathematicsMathSeedsMathematicalPossessedThoroughThorough Knowledge
Author:Rene Descartes
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“Be that as it may, there is fixed in my mind a certain opinion of long standing, namely that there exists a God who is able to do anything and by whom I, such as I am, have been created. How do I know that he did not bring it about that there is no earth at all, no heavens, no extended thing, no shape, no size, no place, and yet bringing it about that all these things appear to me to exist precisely as they do now?”

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Author:Rene Descartes
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