Descartes:00014

Descartes was a man of extraordinary and versatile genius. His ideas on physiology, physics, and astronomy were superseded within a century: they enjoyed a much shorter currency than the Aristotelian system they were designed to replace. But his work in algebra and geometry entered into the abiding patrimony ofmathematics; and his philosophical ideas remain—for better or worse—enormously inXuential to the present day. No one can question his claim to rank among the greatest philosophers of all time.