Analysis of freedom and thought in descartes' philosophy and its influence

Abstract

The search for truth and certainty is a major preoccupation with all Western philosophy. This has its most famous attempt in the philosophy of Descartes. This paper studies Descartes’ pure philosophy considered as a pure first philosophy. Descartes regards thinking as his core existence, and thinking is a freedom that I can truly grasp. Descartes is sometimes criticized for offering only a defense of the primacy of the freedom of thought in opposition to the freedom of action. This paper will show that Descartes does not oppose practical philosophy but intends to seek a metaphilosophy which supports practical philosophy, using the freedom of thinking as the foundation. In short, Descartes just wants to find a way of verifying truth prior to any political, cultural, traditional, moral, or religious factors. His influence is visible in the subsequent philosophies and philosophers who place the human beings at the center of philosophy.