Thomas Vaughan Thomas Vaughan may refer to: René Descartes Descartes laid the foundation for 17th-century continental rationalism, later advocated by Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz, and opposed by the empiricist school of thought consisting of Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. Leibniz, Spinoza and Descartes were all well versed in mathematics as well as philosophy, and Descartes and Leibniz contributed greatly to science as well. His best known philosophical statement is "Cogito ergo sum" (French: Je pense, donc je suis; I think, therefore I am), found in part IV of Discourse on the Method (1637 – written in French but with inclusion of "Cogito ergo sum") and §7 of part I of Principles of Philosophy (1644 – written in Latin). Early life[edit] Descartes was born in La Haye en Touraine (now Descartes), Indre-et-Loire, France. When he was one year old, his mother Jeanne Brochard died. In his book, Discourse On The Method, he says "I entirely abandoned the study of letters. Visions[edit] Work[edit] Descartes lived on Westermarkt 6 (on the left)
Paracelsus Paracelsus (/ˌpærəˈsɛlsəs/; born Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 11 November or 17 December 1493 – 24 September 1541) was a Swiss German[3] Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist.[4] He founded the discipline of toxicology.[5] He is also known as a revolutionary for insisting upon using observations of nature, rather than looking to ancient texts, in open and radical defiance of medical practice of his day.[5] He is also credited for giving zinc its name, calling it zincum.[6][7] Modern psychology often also credits him for being the first to note that some diseases are rooted in psychological illness.[8] His personality was stubborn and independent. He grew progressively more frustrated and bitter as he became more embattled as a reformer.[9] Paracelsus' most important legacy is likely his critique of the scholastic methods in medicine, science and theology. Biography[edit] Philosophy[edit] Contributions to medicine[edit] or
Thomas Hobbes Though on rational grounds a champion of absolutism for the sovereign, Hobbes also developed some of the fundamentals of European liberal thought: the right of the individual; the natural equality of all men; the artificial character of the political order (which led to the later distinction between civil society and the state); the view that all legitimate political power must be "representative" and based on the consent of the people; and a liberal interpretation of law which leaves people free to do whatever the law does not explicitly forbid.[3] He was one of the founders of modern political philosophy and political science.[4][5] His understanding of humans as being matter and motion, obeying the same physical laws as other matter and motion, remains influential; and his account of human nature as self-interested cooperation, and of political communities as being based upon a "social contract" remains one of the major topics of political philosophy. Early life and education[edit]
Meister Eckhart Eckhart came into prominence during the Avignon Papacy, at a time of increased tensions between monastic orders, diocesan clergy, the Franciscan Order, and Eckhart's Dominican Order of Preachers. In later life he was accused of heresy and brought up before the local Franciscan-led Inquisition, and tried as a heretic by Pope John XXII.[note 2] He seems to have died before his verdict was received. He was well known for his work with pious lay groups such as the Friends of God and was succeeded by his more circumspect disciples John Tauler and Henry Suso. Biography[edit] Youth[edit] Eckhart was probably born in the village of Tambach, near Gotha, in the Landgraviate of Thuringia,[3] perhaps between 1250 and 1260.[4] It was previously asserted that he was born to a noble family of landowners, but this originated in a misinterpretation of the archives of the period.[5] In reality, little is known about his family and early life. Church career[edit] Accusation of heresy[edit] Influence[edit]
Galileo Galilei Galileo Galilei (Italian pronunciation: [ɡaliˈlɛːo ɡaliˈlɛi]; 15 February 1564[3] – 8 January 1642), often known mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian physicist, mathematician, engineer, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the scientific revolution during the Renaissance. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy",[4] the "father of modern physics",[5][6] the "father of science",[6][7] and "the father of modern science".[8] Early life Galileo was born in Pisa (then part of the Duchy of Florence), Italy, in 1564,[15] the first of six children of Vincenzo Galilei, a famous lutenist, composer, and music theorist, and Giulia Ammannati. Although a genuinely pious Roman Catholic,[17] Galileo fathered three children out of wedlock with Marina Gamba. Career as a scientist Galileo, Kepler and theories of tides
John of Ruysbroeck The Blessed John of Ruysbroeck (Dutch: Jan van Ruusbroec, Jan (or Johannes) van Ruysbroeck, pronounced [jɑn vɑn rœ.y̯zbruk, ry.zbruk]; 1293 or 1294 – 2 December 1381) was one of the Flemish mystics. Some of his main literary works include The Kingdom of the Divine Lovers, The Twelve Beguines, The Spiritual Espousals, A Mirror of Eternal Blessedness, The Little Book of Enlightenment and The Sparkling Stone. Ruysbroeck also wrote letters and short sayings from some of his oral talks have been recorded by certain of his disciples, such as Jan Van Leeuwan. He wrote in the Dutch vernacular, the language of the common people of the Low countries, rather than in Latin, the language of the Church liturgy and official texts, so as to reach a wider audience. Life[edit] Until his ordination[edit] At the age of eleven he left his mother, departing without leave or warning, to place himself under the guidance and tuition of his uncle, Jan Hinckaert, a canon regular of St. Priest in Brussels[edit]
Desiderius Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (27 October[1] 1466 – 12 July 1536), known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian. Erasmus was a classical scholar who wrote in a pure Latin style. Amongst humanists, he enjoyed the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists"; he has been called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists".[2] Using humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament. Erasmus lived against the backdrop of the growing European religious Reformation; but while he was critical of the abuses within the Church and called for reform, he kept his distance from Luther and Melanchthon and continued to recognise the authority of the pope. Erasmus was his baptismal name, given after St. Early life[edit] Ordination and monastic experience[edit] Education and scholarship[edit] Bronze statue of Erasmus in Rotterdam.
Roger Bacon Roger Bacon, OFM (/ˈbeɪkən/; c. 1214 – June 1292?; scholastic accolade Doctor Mirabilis, meaning "wonderful teacher"), was an English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empirical methods. He is sometimes credited (mainly since the nineteenth century) as one of the earliest European advocates of the modern scientific method inspired by Aristotle and later Arabic scholars such as the Muslim scientist Alhazen.[2] However, more recent re-evaluations emphasise that he was essentially a medieval thinker, with much of his "experimental" knowledge obtained from books, in the scholastic tradition.[3] A survey of how Bacon's work was received over the centuries found that it often reflected the concerns and controversies that were central to his readers.[4] Bacon studied at Oxford and may have been a disciple of Grosseteste. He became a master at Oxford, lecturing on Aristotle. Pope Clement died in 1268 and Bacon lost his protector.
Baruch Spinoza Biography[edit] Family and community origins[edit] Spinoza's ancestors were of Sephardic Jewish descent, and were a part of the community of Portuguese Jews that had settled in the city of Amsterdam in the wake of the Alhambra Decree in Spain (1492) and the Portuguese Inquisition (1536), which had resulted in forced conversions and expulsions from the Iberian peninsula.[11] Attracted by the Decree of Toleration issued in 1579 by the Union of Utrecht, Portuguese "conversos" first sailed to Amsterdam in 1593 and promptly reconverted to Judaism.[12] In 1598 permission was granted to build a synagogue, and in 1615 an ordinance for the admission and government of the Jews was passed.[13] As a community of exiles, the Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam were highly proud of their identity.[13] Spinoza's father, Miguel (Michael), and his uncle, Manuel, then moved to Amsterdam where they resumed the practice of Judaism. 17th-century Holland[edit] Early life[edit] Expulsion from the Jewish community[edit]