What is René Descartes?
{{Infobox Philosopher | region = Western Philosophy | era = 17th-century philosophy | color = #B0C4DE | image = Frans Hals - Portret van René Descartes.jpg | imahe_pAngalan = Frans Hals - Portret van René Descartes.jpg | caption = René Descartes. Portrait by [[Frans Hals]], 1648. | name = René Descartes | birth = 31 March 1596<br />La Haye en Touraine, Indre-et-Loire, France | death = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1650|2|11|1596|3|31}}<br />Stockholm, [[Sweden]] | school_tradition = Cartesianism, [[Rationalism]], Foundationalism | main_interests = [[Metaphysics]], [[Epistemology]], Science, [[Mathematics]] | influences = Plato, Aristotle, Ibn al-Haytham, Averroes, Avicenna, al-Ghazali, Anselm of Canterbury, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, Francisco Suárez, Marin Mersenne, Sextus Empiricus, Michel de Montaigne, Duns Scotus | influenced = Baruch Spinoza, Thomas Hobbes, Antoine Arnauld, Nicolas Malebranche, Pascal | notable_ideas = Cogito ergo sum, Methodic Doubt, Cartesian coordinate system, Cartesian dualism, ontological argument for existence of God; regarded as a founder of Modern philosophy }} '''René Descartes''' (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a famous [[France|French]] [[philosopher]] and [[physicist]]. He wrote books that are very important in the fields of maths, [[physics]] and especially [[philosophy]]. His dualism statement combined soul, mind, body theories and elements into one concept; a [[dualism|dualistic]] theory of mind and matter. In younger years he was a [[mercenary]] soldier. == Descartes and physics (the study of the world) == In his ''[[Rules for the Direction of the Mind]]'' (1628) and his ''Discourse on Method'' (1637) Descartes wrote about the [[scientific method]] that deals with scientific approach, thinking, a method which he had invented. He also wrote about shapes ([[Geometry]]), light ([[optics]]), and the weather