Chapter 17 Cartesian Clarity and Confusion

Descartes' ambiguity in personality and uncertainty in life are in stark contrast to his clarity of thought. Descartes, who put forward the dualism of mind and matter and laid the philosophical foundation for today's science, had a famous saying: I think, therefore I am.When we read his works, it is easy to assume that he is a very rational person, living a simple, clear and regular life, but the fact is quite different.If we use the word clarity to describe Descartes' thoughts, then the only word that can be used to describe his life is chaos. Descartes was born in an old rural noble family in France. His father was a senior civil servant and his mother was the daughter of a senior justice.His mother died when he was one year old. He was weak and suffered from pneumonia when he was a child. He needed more sleep than ordinary people and was often depressed. His classmates called him a tuberculosis ghost.But he did well academically and was one of the school's students chosen to attend Henry's fourth funeral.If he is like Kant, with his background and knowledge, he should be able to teach at Bouidi University where he graduated and live a simple and stable life as a professor.

But for reasons unknown, he left France at the age of twenty-two, ostensibly to Denmark, but landed in Frankfurt, Germany, and then appeared in the army of the Duke of Bavaria as an uncommissioned officer in a field battalion. like soldiers.He is used to living a wandering life with no fixed place. The days when he lived in the Netherlands were considered the most stable, but he also moved 23 times!He was like a wandering philosopher, wandering in Europe, and finally, at the call of Queen Kristin of Sweden, he went to the Swedish court to discuss philosophy and mathematics with her. Soon after he mentioned a method to predict life to the Queen, he himself Ruijing, who died of a cold in a different place, was buried in a cemetery for unbaptized children.

Descartes' chaotic life may be related to his unstable and adventurous temperament.When the psychopathologist Jaspers mentioned Descartes, he especially said that the ambiguity of his personality was in sharp contrast to the clarity of his thinking.His life and thoughts seem to be divided into two like the mind-body dualism he advocated. It is difficult for us to see whether his thoughts are the projection of his life or the compensation of his life.