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René Descartes (/ d eɪ ˈ k ɑːr t / day-KART or UK: / ˈ d eɪ k ɑːr t / DAY-kart; French: [ʁəne dekaʁt] ⓘ; [note 3] [11] 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) [12] [13]: 58 was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science.
Learn how to count the roots of a polynomial by examining sign changes in its coefficients, as described by René Descartes in his La Géométrie. See examples, proofs, generalizations and related topics.
Atomism is a natural philosophy that the physical universe is composed of fundamental indivisible components called atoms. Learn about the ancient Greek atomists, such as Leucippus and Democritus, who proposed that atoms and void are the only real things that exist.
The web page traces the development of scientific method from ancient times to the present, with a focus on rationalism, inductivism, and hypothetico-deductivism. It does not mention any specific scientist as the first to practice the scientific method, but cites Aristotle as a pioneer of scientific reasoning.
Learn about the historical and scientific development of the corpuscular theory of light, which states that light is made of small particles that travel in straight lines. Explore the contributions of Newton, Gassendi, Boyle, Malus, Biot and others to this theory and its challenges.
A 19th-century hypothesis that atoms were stable vortices in the aether, with different knots representing different elements. The theory was based on the work of Helmholtz and inspired by Descartes, but was abandoned with the discovery of subatomic particles.
Reductionism is the idea that complex systems can be explained by simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It can apply to ontology, methodology, theory, and levels of explanation in various fields, such as science, religion, and mathematics.
Cartesianism is the system of René Descartes and his followers, who emphasized reason and innate ideas over sensory experience. It involved mind-body dualism, ontology, epistemology, and criticism of Aristotelianism and empiricism.