"I think, therefore I am"

Swiftly moving through an epic timeline, with various philosophers, theories, ideologies and beliefs being thrown at us, we have triumphantly reached the 17th and 18th century. This specific time was divided between British Empiricism and continental rationalism. I bet you're wondering what on earth I'm talking about and I'm about to confuse you even more by connecting these theories with epistemology.

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge, basically meaning that people who are empiricists believe that your source of knowledge is that of your senses. This theory links in with two important philosophers, one known as John Locke who believes that we are all born a blank slate and learn things through our own personal experiences. We as humans have no innate ideas which links in with Francis Bacon who believed the key to knowledge was through experimentation, also known as the scientific method which avoided 'idols of the mind.'

Rationalism

Descartes, Leibniz and Spinoza are all rationalist philosophers. Plato, in some ways, is also considered to be a rationalist as his idea of the forms can easily be related to rationalism. These philosophers believed in only one theory, this being the mind on its own without any influence, strictly leaving us with pure reason.

Idealism

Idealists rely on the explanation of reality or human experience in which ideas or spiritual, non - materialistic elements are central. They deny the existence of matter and everything that is involved in ideas.

Descartes

Rene Descartes was the most influential philosopher in the first part of the 17th century. As the founder of modern philosophy, his outlook was affected by the new evidence surrounding physics and astronomy, leading to a new self confidence within himself due to the progression of science around him. As a practising catholic, Descartes surprisingly shared Galileo's views making him a contemporary version of Galileo himself, opposing to Aristotelianisim views and the traditional education available in universities.

Descartes is known for his attempt to arrive at a fundamental set of principles that one can know as true without any doubt. He rejects any ideas that can be doubted and re-establishes them in order to acquire a firm foundation for genuine knowledge. An example of this is geometry. Descartes knew anything to do with geometry is easily justifiable, knowing that the knowledge had been tested and was utlimately unquestionable.

Descartes believed the senses to be unreliable, stating that they can often deceive you. He saw the body as a machine, with material properties of motion and extension and that it followed the laws of nature. The mind or soul on the other hand was described as a non material entity arguing that only humans have minds and that the mind interacts with the body at the pineal gland. Descartes proposed that the mind controls the body but that the body can also influence the otherwise rational mind, such as when people act out of passion. This was known as "Cartesian Dualism".

Descartes concluded that he could exist because he could think, determining that thinking is a powerful essence, "I think, therefore I am."

Spinoza

Spinoza, a Dutch philosopher believed that God existed as an abstract and impersonal concept. He opposed Descartes theory of dualism, believing that the body and mind were a single identity. He believed that everything that existed in nature is one reality and that there is one set of rules governing the whole of reality that surrounds us and of which we are part of. Spinoza believed that God and Nature are the only true substances, believing that humans are aspects of God therefore disregarding the idea of freewill. God did not create nature, God is nature and humans are merely parts of God. Therefore concluding that everything that happens is a manifestation of God, eliminating sin and evil.

Leibiniz

Leibiniz believed in the theory of substance, similar to Descartes and Spinoza, however he only believed that there was one substance, this being God. Unlike Descartes and Spinoza who believed that there were three substances; God, mind and matter. He believed that we lived in the best of all possible worlds, presenting God as omnipotent (all powerful) and that he had created this world from a number of infinite possibilities.

Leibiniz's best contribution to metaphysics was his theory of the Monads. He believed that there was one dominant monad, this being the soul. The monads consisted of opposites such as

Good Vs Evil

Yin Vs Yang

Feeling well is the absence of pain

Day is the absence of night

He concluded that the world exists through necessity.