E. Cobham Brewer 18101897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
The philosophical system of René Descartes (Latin, Cartesius),
of La Haye, in Touraine. The basis of his system is cogito ergo
sum. Thought must proceed from soul, and therefore man is not
wholly material; that soul must be from some Being not material,
and that Being is God. As for physical phenomena, they must be
the result of motion excited by God, and these motions he termed
vortices. (15961650.) Of course, he begs the whole question in
his first assertion. (See COGITO.)