Ideas are mental representations of objects or results of thought. Term "idea" comes from Greek "idea" meaning "form, pattern". Plato defined ideas as unchanging forms from which material world arises
Descartes defines perfect knowledge as unshakable certainty based on complete inability to doubt. Certainty requires clear and distinct perception guided by rational insight. Descartes holds that all justifying factors are ideas, not external senses
Ideas are modes of thinking that represent objects to the mind. Ideas are the lowest level of ontological order in Descartes' system. Ideas are produced by the intellect and directed at their objects
Descartes combined mechanics, physics, and mathematics in natural philosophy. He met Isaac Beeckman in 1619, who introduced physico-mathematics. Descartes wrote Rules for the Direction of the Mind in the 1620s. Method is defined as reliable rules that guide knowledge acquisition
Born in 1596 in La Haye, France, to a lawyer father. Lost his mother at age 13.5 months. Studied at Jesuit College of La Flèche from 1606 to 1615. Obtained law degree from Poitiers in 1616
Born in 1596 in France, Descartes studied at College de La Flèche. Graduated from University of Poitiers with law degree in 1616. Questioned his teachers' teachings and developed doubt