Descartes brought the modern conception of metaphysics to the western world. However, this concept that he modernized can be very hard to define. The first person to publish works about metaphysics was Plato who published a book titled “Metaphysics” or beyond physics (Hatfield). “Plato’s writings gave the world an idea of metaphysics and a way to learn about anything using a system of questioning and consideration of every answer existing to a question” (“René Descartes Publishes”). Descartes built on Plato’s writings and brought them to the modern world. His methods “tried to apply the rigor and standards of mathematics and geometry to metaphysical claims” (West).
Most of Descartes’ work has metaphysical bases and his work is now the basis for a lot of current metaphysical theories. Descartes’ book, The Principles of Philosophy, uses metaphysics, physics and a study of the human body to scientifically understand the world (“René Descartes Publishes”). His concept of dualism is also a metaphysical idea and has roots in ideas of Galileo. Galileo, along with other philosophers, came up with an idea called “mechanical philosophy” that states that all physical change is caused by forces acting on tiny particles making up matter or atoms. Based on this idea, Descartes “proposed that the body was made of particles that obeyed the laws of physics” (Zimmer). To him, the human body “was no different from a mechanical doll: neither needed a soul to drive its movements” (Zimmer).
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The picture above is the Flammarion Engraving. It depicts a man pushing beyond his world to see what is beyond the sky. This is an important concept of metaphysics. It is the questioning of the fabrication of our reality and the structure of our world.
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