THE RENAISSANCE 123 



voice to the change of attitude which was then mani- 

 festing itself throughout the country. All aspects 

 of human life and activity, all varieties of belief 

 interested him profoundly, and are set down in his 

 famous volumes with an impartiality of outlook 

 which gives a strong impression of scepticism and 

 independence. The Essays were widely read and 

 translated, and exercised an enormous influence, 

 more than their contents would seem to justify, 

 showing that they were felt to be in harmony with a 

 frame of mind that must have been widely prevalent. 



A generation later than Montaigne and Francis 

 Bacon, a man of French birth and ancestry laid the 



foundations of modern critical philosophy. 

 Descartes. _. , _ / /- /- \ 



Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was born in 



Touraine, of a family of the demi-noblesse, and died at 

 Stockholm in the service of Queen Christina of Sweden. 

 His chief work was accomplished during a twenty 

 years' sojourn in Holland, to which country he origin- 

 ally went to serve under Prince Maurice of Orange 

 in the wars of independence against Spain. 



The distinguishing feature of Descartes' work was 

 its combination of far-reaching and sound mathematical 

 advance, somewhat speculative physical theory and 

 a critical philosophy which took nothing for granted. 

 Descartes showed how much unverified assumption 

 underlay even generally received philosophic ideas, 

 and from him modern " philosophic doubt " took its 

 origin : de omnibus dubitandum est. 



Descartes turned from the old accumulations 

 of interwoven thought, and tried to build up a new 

 philosophy, based only on human experience and 



