René Descartes was born on March 31, 1596 in La Haye Touraine, France. Descartes was considered a "jack of all trades", making important contributions to the fields of anatomy, cognitive science, optics, mathematics, and philosophy. He has been called the father of modern rationalism, soldier of fortune, scholar, pilgrim, traveler and firm supporter of the Roman Catholic faith. He was educated at the Jesuit college of La Fleche in Anjou. He entered the boarding school at the age of eight, a few months after the college opened in January 1604. At La Fleche, Descartes got into the habit of spending the mornings in bed. His health was poor and he was allowed to stay in bed until 11 am. This habit and custom he maintained until the year of his death. While in bed he engaged in systematic meditation. During his meditations he was struck by the stark contrast between the certainty of mathematics and the controversial nature of philosophy. He came to believe that the sciences could be made to provide results as certain as those of mathematics. While at La Fleche he studied classics, logic and traditional Aristotelian philosophy. He also learned mathematics from Clavius' books. Descartes left La Fleche in 1612. He spent the next 16 years travelling, contemplating and corresponding. School had made Descartes realize how little he knew. The only subject that was satisfactory in his eyes was mathematics. This idea became the foundation of his way of thinking and will form the basis of all his works. He spent some time in Paris; apparently keeping a lot to himself. He studied at the University of Poitiers. He graduated in law in Poitiers in 1616. Immediately after his studies......middle of paper......tina of Sweden convinced Descartes to go to Stockholm. The queen insisted on receiving her instructions at 5 a.m., and Descartes broke his lifelong habit of rising at 11. After a few months in the cold northern climate and walking to the palace at 5 a.m., he contracted pneumonia. Within a week, the man who had given direction to mathematics and philosophy was dead. Focusing on the problem of true and certain knowledge, Descartes had made epistemology, the question of the relationship between mind and world, the starting point of philosophy. By locating the contact of the soul with the body in the pineal gland, Descartes had raised the question of the relationship between the mind and the brain and the nervous system. Yet, at the same time, by drawing a radical distinction between body as extension and mind as pure thought, Descartes had paradoxically created intellectual chaos.