In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" (Lacey 286). In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive" (Bourke 263). Different degrees of emphasis on this method or theory lead to a range of rationalist standpoints, from the moderate position "that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge" to the more extreme position that reason is "the unique path to knowledge" (Audi 771). Given a pre-modern understanding of reason, "rationalism" is identical to philosophy, the Socratic life of inquiry, or the zetetic (skeptical) clear interpretation of authority (open to the underlying or essential cause of things as they appear to our sense of certainty). In recent decades, Leo Strauss sought to revive ''Classical Political Rationalism'' as a discipline that understands the task of reasoning, not as foundational, but as maieutic. Rationalism should not be confused with rationality, nor with rationalization.

In politics, rationalism is a development of the Enlightenment that emphasizes a "politics of reason" centred upon support of the concepts of rational choice, utilitarianism, secularism and irreligion; this has especially been promoted by liberalism.

Background[link]

Since the Enlightenment, rationalism is usually associated with the introduction of mathematical methods into philosophy, as in Descartes, Leibniz, and Spinoza (Bourke 263). This is commonly called continental rationalism, because it was predominant in the continental schools of Europe, whereas in Britain empiricism dominated.

Rationalism is often contrasted with empiricism. Taken very broadly these views are not mutually exclusive, since a philosopher can be both rationalist and empiricist (Lacey 286–287). Taken to extremes the empiricist view holds that all ideas come to us through experience, either through the external senses or through such inner sensations as pain and gratification, and thus that knowledge is essentially based on or derived from experience. At issue is the fundamental source of human knowledge, and the proper techniques for verifying what we think we know (see Epistemology).

Proponents of some varieties of rationalism argue that, starting with foundational basic principles, like the axioms of geometry, one could deductively derive the rest of all possible knowledge. The philosophers who held this view most clearly were Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz, whose attempts to grapple with the epistemological and metaphysical problems raised by Descartes led to a development of the fundamental approach of rationalism. Both Spinoza and Leibniz asserted that, ''in principle'', all knowledge, including scientific knowledge, could be gained through the use of reason alone, though they both observed that this was not possible ''in practice'' for human beings except in specific areas such as mathematics. On the other hand, Leibniz admitted that "we are all mere Empirics in three fourths of our actions" (''Monadology'' § 28, cited in Audi 772). Rationalism is predicting and explaining behavior based on logic.

Philosophical usage[link]

The distinction between rationalists and empiricists was drawn at a later period, and would not have been recognized by the philosophers involved. Also, the distinction was not as clear-cut as is sometimes suggested; for example, the three main rationalists were all committed to the importance of empirical science, and in many respects the empiricists were closer to Descartes in their methods and metaphysical theories than were Spinoza and Leibniz.

History[link]

René Descartes (1596–1650)[link]

Descartes thought that only knowledge of eternal truths including the truths of mathematics, and the epistemological and metaphysical foundations of the sciences could be attained by reason alone; other knowledge, the knowledge of physics, required experience of the world, aided by the scientific method. He also argued that although dreams appear as real as sense experience, these dreams cannot provide persons with knowledge. Also, since conscious sense experience can be the cause of illusions, then sense experience itself can be doubtable. As a result, Descartes deduced that a rational pursuit of truth should doubt every belief about reality. He elaborated these beliefs in such works as ''Discourse on Method'', ''Meditations on First Philosophy'', and ''Principles of Philosophy''. Descartes developed a method to attain truths according to which nothing that cannot be recognised by the intellect (or reason) can be classified as knowledge. These truths are gained "without any sensory experience", according to Descartes. Truths that are attained by reason are broken down into elements that intuition can grasp, which, through a purely deductive process, will result in clear truths about reality.

Descartes therefore argued, as a result of his method, that reason alone determined knowledge, and that this could be done independently of the senses. For instance, his famous dictum, ''cogito ergo sum'', is a conclusion reached a priori i.e. not through an inference from experience. This was, for Descartes, an irrefutable principle upon which to ground all forms of other knowledge. Descartes posited a metaphysical dualism, distinguishing between the substances of the human body ("''res extensa''") and the mind or soul ("''res cogitans''"). This crucial distinction would be left unresolved and lead to what is known as the mind-body problem, since the two substances in the Cartesian system are independent of each other and irreducible.

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677)[link]

The philosophy of Baruch Spinoza is a systematic, logical, rational philosophy developed in seventeenth-century Europe. Spinoza's philosophy is a system of ideas constructed upon basic building blocks with an internal consistency with which Spinoza tried to answer life's major questions and in which he proposed that "God exists only philosophically." He was heavily influenced by thinkers such as Descartes, Euclid and Thomas Hobbes, as well as theologians in the Jewish philosophical tradition such as Maimonides. But his work was in many respects a departure from the Judeo-Christian tradition. Many of Spinoza's ideas continue to vex thinkers today and many of his principles, particularly regarding the emotions, have implications for modern approaches to psychology. Even top thinkers have found Spinoza's "geometrical method" difficult to comprehend: Goethe admitted that he "could not really understand what Spinoza was on about most of the time." His ''magnum opus'', ''Ethics'', contains unresolved obscurities and has a forbidding mathematical structure modeled on Euclid's geometry. Spinoza's philosophy attracted believers such as Albert Einstein and much intellectual attention.

Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716)[link]

Leibniz was the last of the great Rationalists who contributed heavily to other fields such as mathematics. He did not develop his system, however, independently of these advances. Leibniz rejected Cartesian dualism and denied the existence of a material world. In Leibniz's view there are infinitely many simple substances, which he called "monads" (possibly taking the term from the work of Anne Conway).

Leibniz developed his theory of monads in response to both Descartes and Spinoza. In rejecting this response he was forced to arrive at his own solution. Monads are the fundamental unit of reality, according to Leibniz, constituting both inanimate and animate things. These units of reality represent the universe, though they are not subject to the laws of causality or space (which he called "well-founded phenomena"). Leibniz, therefore, introduced his principle of pre-established harmony to account for apparent causality in the world.

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)[link]

Immanuel Kant started as a traditional rationalist, having studied the rationalists Leibniz and Wolff, but after studying David Hume's works, which "awoke [him] from [his] dogmatic slumbers", he developed a distinctive and very influential rationalism of his own, which attempted to synthesise the traditional rationalist and empiricist traditions.

Kant named his branch of epistemology Transcendental Idealism, and he first laid out these views in his famous work ''The Critique of Pure Reason''. In it he argued that there were fundamental problems with both rationalist and empiricist dogma. To the rationalists he argued, broadly, that pure reason is flawed when it goes beyond its limits and claims to know those things that are necessarily beyond the realm of all possible experience: the existence of God, free will, and the immortality of the human soul. Kant referred to these objects as "The Thing in Itself" and goes on to argue that their status as objects beyond all possible experience by definition means we cannot know them. To the empiricist he argued that while it is correct that experience is fundamentally necessary for human knowledge, reason is necessary for processing that experience into coherent thought. He therefore concludes that both reason and experience are necessary for human knowledge.

See also[link]

17th-century philosophy

Cartesian linguistics

Cult of reason

Critical rationalism

Cynicism

Empiricism

Higher criticism

Humanism

Idealism

Innatism

Irrationalist

Logical positivism

Natural philosophy

Nature versus nurture

Nominalism

Objectivity (philosophy)

Panrationalism

Philosophical realism

Philosophy of Spinoza

Poverty of the stimulus

Platonic realism

Psychological nativism

Rationalist International

Rational mysticism

Rationality

Rationality and power

Tabula rasa

References[link]

;Primary sources

Descartes, René (1637), ''Discourse on Method''.

Spinoza, Baruch (1677), ''Ethics''.

Leibniz, Gottfried (1714), ''Monadology.

Kant, Immanuel, (1781/1787), ''Critique of Pure Reason.

;Secondary sources

Audi, Robert (ed., 1999), ''The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1995. 2nd edition, 1999.

Blackburn, Simon (1996), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 1994. Paperback edition with new Chronology, 1996.

Bourke, Vernon J. (1962), "Rationalism", p. 263 in Runes (1962).

Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy'', 1st edition, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1976. 2nd edition, 1986. 3rd edition, Routledge, London, UK, 1996.

Runes, Dagobert D. (ed., 1962), ''Dictionary of Philosophy'', Littlefield, Adams, and Company, Totowa, NJ.

External links[link]

Markie, Peter (2004), "Rationalism vs. Empiricism", ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', Edward N. Zalta (ed.),

John F. Hurst (1867), ''History of Rationalism Embracing a Survey of the Present State of Protestant Theology''

Category:Rationalism Category:Justification Category:Epistemological theories Category:History of philosophy Category:Philosophical movements

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name	August Burns Red
landscape	yes
background	group_or_band
origin	Manheim, Pennsylvania
note	DO NOT CHANGE GENRE. Make case on talk page before changing genre.
genre	Metalcore
years active	2003–present
label	Solid State, CI, Hassle
associated acts	Bells
website
current members	Jake LuhrsJB BrubakerBrent RamblerDustin DavidsonMatt Greiner
past members	Jon HersheyJosh McMannessJordan Tuscan }}

August Burns Red is an American metalcore band, from Manheim, Pennsylvania. Formed in 2003, the group began their first performances while a majority of the members were attending their senior year of high school, and soon began playing shows around Lancaster, before being signed to CI Records, and afterward, Solid State Records. The group is primarily known for their heavy breakdowns and odd-meter riffs. They cite Between the Buried and Me, Misery Signals and Hopesfall as their main influences.

History[link]

Formation and ''Thrill Seeker'' (2003–2006)[link]

August Burns Red was founded in March 2003 when all the members were attending high school. The original practice sessions of the band began in drummer, Matt Greiner's old egg house and basement on the Greiner family's farmland. After playing many local shows within Lancaster, they recorded their first EP, titled ''Looks Fragile After All'' with label CI Records in 2004.

Vocalist Jon Hershey eventually quit the band during the same year, which led to Josh McManness to take on the position as lead singer, and after several months of playing with McManness, August Burns Red signed to Solid State Records in 2005. Hershey would later go on to form post-rock band Bells. August Burns Red released ''Thrill Seeker'', their first full-length album, on November 8, 2005. In 2006, drummer Matt Greiner was endorsed by Truth Custom Drums following the release of the album.

''Messengers'' (2006–2009)[link]

McManness departed from the band in 2006, exhausted by the band's constant touring. He was replaced with Columbia, SC resident, Jake Luhrs during the same year. Bassist Jordan Tuscan also left the band in 2006 for similar reasons as McManness. He was replaced by bassist Dustin Davidson, a friend of the band. The band's second album, ''Messengers'', was released on June 19, 2007. Marking the debut for Luhrs fronting the group, it managed to become the band's breakthrough album, reaching number 81 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album has sold a total of 108,000 copies as of May 2011.

Throughout 2008, August Burns Red toured with several acts across North America and Europe to promote ''Messengers''. From April to May they toured with As I Lay Dying and Misery Signals across the United States and Canada. In September and October of that same year, they headlined a tour with A Skylit Drive, Sky Eats Airplane, Greeley Estates, and This or the Apocalypse in the United States. The band also visited Europe for a month-long headlining tour in November, playing in Germany, Finland, Norway, Sweden, The United Kingdom, Republic Of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and France.

After this series of tours, the band recorded two covers of popular songs. They recorded an instrumental version of the classic song, "Carol of the Bells" for the ''X Christmas'' compilation album, which was featured in trailers for the film, ''The Spirit'', released Christmas Day 2008. They also recorded a cover of "...Baby One More Time" by pop singer Britney Spears for the ''Punk Goes Pop 2'' compilation album, released in March 2009.

On February 24, 2009, the band released an EP, entitled ''Lost Messengers: The Outtakes''. It contains material that is related or was decided not to be included in the final, mastered version of ''Messengers''. August Burns Reds' first trip to the Middle East took place on March 6, 2009 with the band playing at the Dubai Desert Rock Festival. The band's last tour before their next album release took place in the United States, where they toured with metalcore band All That Remains throughout April and May.

''Constellations'' (2009–2011)[link]

To promote their upcoming album, August Burns Red released several new tracks and a music video during June 2009. The tracks ''Thirty and Seven'', ''Existence'', and ''Ocean of Apathy'' were all released on the 15th, 21st, and 29th, respectively. A music video for the song ''Meddler'' was also released during this month. On July 7, a week before the album's release, August Burns Red began streaming the full album on their Myspace profile for a limited time. August Burns Red released their third full-length album, ''Constellations'', on July 14, 2009. During the week of August 1, 2009, the album charted at spot 24 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Another United States tour was organized with August Burns Red headlining and support from Blessthefall, Enter Shikari, All Shall Perish, and Iwrestledabearonce. After this tour, the band joined a short tour in Australia with Architects in support of Australian band Parkway Drive. August Burns Red toured alongside Underoath and Emery in November and December 2009 as well.

The band released their first live CD/DVD, ''Home'', on September 28, 2010. The group co-headlined an ''Alternative Press'' tour throughout November. On February 23, 2010, ''Constellations'' was nominated for the Dove Award for "Best Rock Album".

August Burns Red toured Australia and New Zealand in December 2010 on the No Sleep Til Festival. The band played alongside Parkway Drive, A Day to Remember, NOFX, Dropkick Murphys, Suicide Silence, Megadeth, Descendents, Gwar and many others.

''Leveler'' (2011–present) [link]

On July 27, 2010, lead guitarist, Brubaker stated that the band would be taking time off tour to write their next record, On February 12, 2011, the band announced via their official Facebook page that they had completely finished writing their new record and that they would be entering the studio on Valentine's Day. which, following into March of the next year, the band announced that the record was finished, and that it was (at that point) time for mixing. On the April 5, August Burns Red revealed the name of this upcoming record as ''Leveler''. On May 16, 2011, the band released the song "Empire" as a preview before its release. They also later premiered three other songs: "Internal Cannon", "Divisions", and "Poor Millionaire", on May 31, June 6, and June 14, respectively.

''Leveler'' was released on June 21, 2011 in two forms; standard and deluxe. The deluxe version of ''Leveler'' contains four extra songs, including an acoustic version of the song "Internal Cannon". The album sold particularly well compared to their other releases, with 29,000 of its opening first week-copies being sold in the United States alone. These sales had the record land at position 11 on The Billboard 200 chart. After the release, August Burns Red took part on the main stage of the 2011 Vans Warped Tour.

August Burns Red headlined their own ''Leveler'' tour on the first quarter of 2012 with Silverstein, Texas in July, I the Breather and Letlive as support acts.

Characteristics and image[link]

Musical style[link]

August Burns Red is generally credited as a metalcore band, and have also been said to share traits of other genres such as progressive metal, and thrash metal. August Burns Red songs frequently feature technical or odd time signatures and heavy breakdowns, with a variety of influences including Meshuggah, Between the Buried and Me, Poison the Well, Symphony in Peril and Misery Signals.

While the group has stated that they don't mind being classified as metalcore, Brubaker has grown to a distaste in the genre's usual bands: "I feel like anyone who can pick up and play a guitar and learn to play a metalcore riff and any drummer who can learn to play a thrash beat over a breakdown is doing it. It's almost become very formulaic, and metal to me was never a formulaic genre."

Band name [link]

August Burns Red have been asked of the origin of their band name on many occasions and many different stories given in explanation to where it originated. The most popular story behind the name is an incident that revolves around the band's original vocalist, Jon Hershey wherein he dated a woman named August who burned his dog Redd alive in his dog house.

However, it was later revealed in a radio interview that this meaning (along with others) were simply comical stories created by the members and there is no actual meaning behind the band name. Drummer Matt Griener stated in the interview that "we just came up with the name to come up with a name."

Christian faith[link]

August Burns Red is a Christian band. JB Brubaker mentioned in an interview with ''Shout!'', an online magazine, that "Christianity is a religion, not a style of music" and he would "rather just let the music speak for itself." Brent Rambler commented on the fact that "It is important to us that people know that we are indeed Christians...without having us stand up there and ram it down people's throats."

Members[link]

;Current

JB Brubaker − lead guitar (since 2003)

Brent Rambler − rhythm guitar (since 2003)

Matt Greiner − drums, piano (since 2003)

Dustin Davidson − bass guitar, backing vocals (since 2006)

Jake Luhrs − lead vocals (since 2006)

;Former

Jordan Tuscan − bass guitar (2003–2005)

Jon Hershey − lead vocals (2003–2004)

Josh McManness − lead vocals (2005–2006)

Discography[link]

;Studio albums

Year	Title	Label	Chart peaks
			! style="width:50px;"	! style="width:50px;"	! style="width:50px;"	! style="width:50px;"
2005	''Thrill Seeker''	rowspan="4"
2007
2009
2011

References[link]

External links[link]

Category:Heavy metal musical groups from Pennsylvania Category:American metalcore musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 2003 Category:Solid State Records artists Category:Christian alternative metal groups Category:American Christian metal musical groups Category:Hassle Records artists Category:People from Lancaster, Pennsylvania Category:Musical quintets

cs:August Burns Red de:August Burns Red es:August Burns Red fr:August Burns Red it:August Burns Red nl:August Burns Red ja:オーガスト・�ーンズ・レッド pl:August Burns Red pt:August Burns Red ru:August Burns Red sk:August Burns Red fi:August Burns Red sv:August Burns Red

name	Kamal Haasan
birth name	Kamal Haasan
birth date	November 07, 1954
birth place	Paramakudi, Madras State, India
residence	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
occupation	Film actor, producer, director, screenwriter, dialogues, playback singer, lyricist
awards	Padmashri, Kalaimamani
yearsactive	1959–present
spouse	Vani Ganapathy(1978–1985—divorced)Sarika Thakur(1985–2004—divorced)
children	Shruti Haasan (born 1986)Akshara Haasan (born 1991) }}

Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian film actor, screenwriter, producer and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting. Kamal Haasan has won several Indian film awards, including four National Film Awards and numerous Filmfare Awards, and is known for having starred in the largest number of films submitted by India in contest for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In addition to acting, screenwriting and directing, he has also featured in films as a songwriter, playback singer and choreographer. His film production company, Rajkamal International, has produced several of his films. In 1990, he was awarded the Padma Shri for his contributions to Indian cinema. Kamal Haasan is also a recipient of an Honorary doctorate by Sathyabama University. In 2009, he became one of very few Indian actors to have completed 50 years in cinema.

After several projects as a child artist, Kamal Haasan's breakthrough into lead acting came with his role in the 1975 drama ''Apoorva Raagangal'', in which he played a rebellious youth in love with an older woman. He secured his second Indian National Film Award for his portrayal of a guileless school teacher who tends a child-like amnesiac in 1982's ''Moondram Pirai''. He was particularly noted for his performance in Mani Ratnam's Godfatheresque Tamil film ''Nayagan'' (1987), which was ranked by ''Time'' magazine as one of the best films of all time. Since then he has gone on to appear in other notable films such as ''Anbe Sivam'' and his own productions, ''Hey Ram'' and ''Virumaandi'', as well as ''Dasavathaaram'', in which he appeared in ten distinct roles.

Career[link]

Debut as child artiste: 1959–1963[link]

Kamal Haasan's family shifted from Paramakudi to Chennai for his mother's medical treatment. He went to Holy Angels Convent school in T. Nagar. He was interested in girls even as a young child. There are two versions regarding his entry into films. One version has it that, as a little boy, he accompanied a doctor who went to treat an ill woman at the home of movie mogul A V Meyyappa Chettiar (father of AVM Saravanan). On hearing loud shouting from a first-floor tenant of the bungalow, the doctor became uneasy. Young Kamal Haasan strode up the stairway to ask the noisemaker not to shout over the phone as someone was ill, leaving the person astonished. An impressed Meyyappa Chettiar later provided him an entry into films. The other version is that when young boy Kamal Haasan accompanied a family doctor of Meyyappa Chettiar to his house, producer AVM Saravanan noticed Kamal as a hyperactive child. He took him over and introduced to AV Meyyappa Chettiar who was looking for a young boy to play a role in the movie ''Kalathur Kannamma''.

Kamal Haasan was five-years-old when he faced the camera for the first time in ''Kalathur Kannamma'', which was directed by A. Bhimsingh. The film was released on August 12, 1960. The film starred veteran actor Gemini Ganesan and won the President's Gold Medal. Following his successful debut, he starred in five more films as a child actor sharing screen space with Sivaji Ganesan and M. G. Ramachandran. Kamal Haasan's family was very supportive of his interest in the performing arts. He joined a theatre repertory, TKS Nataka Sabha, that was helmed by T.K.Shanmugam. He continued his school education at the Hindu High School in Triplicane. The time spent as part of the theatre company shaped Kamal Haasan's craft and was instrumental in his interest in make-up.

Breakthrough and Experimentation: 1970–1975[link]

Following a seven-year hiatus from films, Haasan returned to the industry to be a part of the technical crew of films. However, he played a few supporting roles instead. As an adult, his first film role was in the 1970 film ''Maanavan'', in which he appeared in a dance sequence. He also did a supporting role in the film ''Annai Velankani'' in which he was the assistant director. His role in K.Balachander's 1973 film ''Arangetram'' was the beginning of many noteworthy performances. He played the antagonist in ''Sollathaan Ninaikkiren'' and ''Gumasthavin Magal'' both co-starring Sivakumar. His first serious role was in K. Balachander's ''Aval Oru Thodar Kathai'' (1974). His last role as a supporting actor was in 1974, in the film ''Naan Avan Illai''.

He debuted in the Malayalam film industry with the 1974 film ''Kanyakumari''. He won his first regional Filmfare award for this film. His first break as a lead actor in Tamil films came with ''Apoorva Raagangal'', directed by K.Balachander, for which he also won his first Filmfare award in Tamil. The plot of the film revolved around a young man in love with an older woman and won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil. Kamal Haasan learned to play the mridangam for this role. Another noteworthy fact is that this film introduced audiences to Rajnikanth, who played several supporting roles in films starring Kamal Haasan before becoming one of the most successful actors in the Tamil film industry.

Success in the south: 1976–1980[link]

The late 1970s was a period that saw Haasan's continued collaboration with K. Balachander, who cast him in many of his social-themed films. In 1976, Balachander cast him as a womaniser trying to woo many women in ''Manmadha Leelai'' which was followed by ''Oru Oodhappu Kan Simittugiradhu'', which won him his second consecutive Regional Filmfare (Tamil) Best Actor Award. Later, Kamal Haasan appeared in the drama ''Moondru Mudichu'' with Rajinikanth and Sridevi, another Balachander film. ''Avargal'' (1977) was one of the most sensitive movies on woman liberation, for which he learnt the art of ventriloquism. The film was also remade in Telugu as ''Idi Katha Kaadu'' (1979) with Haasan repeating his role. ''16 Vayathinile'' won him his third consecutive best actor award, where he appeared as a village bumpkin, along with Rajinikanth and Sridevi. In 1977, he starred in his first Kannada film, ''Kokila'', which was the directorial debut of another friend and mentor, Balu Mahendra. The same year, he acted in a Bengali film, Kabita. In 1978, he debuted in the Telugu film industry as a lead actor with the cross-cultural romantic film, ''Maro Charithra'' directed by K. Balachander. The film was regarded a cult-classic and was also Haasan's first major hit. His fourth consecutive Filmfare award came with ''Sigappu Rojakkal'', an anti-hero thriller in which he played a psychopathic sexual killer.

Few of the other famous films in this period were the Telugu film ''Sommokadidhi Sokkadidhi'', where he played dual roles, the musical entertainer ''Ninaithale Inikkum'', the snake horror film ''Neeya'' and ''Kalyanaraman''.

At the end of this period, he had won six regional Best Actor Filmfare Awards, including four consecutive Best Tamil Actor Awards and became a famous actor in South India by having starred in all languages.

Bollywood foray: 1980s[link]

Kamal Haasan's pairing with the actress Sridevi continued with Tamil classic ''Varumayin Niram Sigappu'' in 1980, where he played an unemployed youth. Kamal Haasan also made a guest–cameo appearance in the Rajnikanth's ''Thillu Mullu''. He made his Bollywood debut with ''Ek Duuje Ke Liye'', the remake of his Telugu-language film, ''Maro Charithra'', also by K. Balachander which earned him his first Filmfare nomination. He made his 100th film appearance in 1981 with ''Raja Paarvai'', which also marked his debut in film production. Despite this film's relatively poor reception at the cinemas, his portrayal of a blind session violinist earned him a Filmfare Award. Following a year of starring in commercially-oriented films, he won his first of three National Awards for Best Actor with his portrayal of a school teacher who looks after an amnesia patient in Balu Mahendra's ''Moondram Pirai'', later reprising the role in the Hindi version, ''Sadma''. During this time he concentrated more in Bollywood acting in remakes of his Tamil films, most famously ''Yeh To Kamaal Ho Gaya'' and ''Zara Si Zindagi''. In 1983, he appeared in ''Sagara Sangamam'', directed by Kasinadhuni Viswanath. His portrayal as a drunkard classical dancer fetched him his first Nandi Award for Best Actor and second Filmfare Best Telugu Actor Award.

After the successful multi starrer ''Raaj Tilak'' in 1984, he acted in ''Saagar'', released in 1985, for which he was awarded both the Filmfare Best Actor Award and was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Award at the same ceremony for this role. The film was India's representative for the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film in 1985. ''Saagar'' portrayed him alongside Rishi Kapoor. The same year, he appeared in ''Geraftaar'' alongside Amitabh Bachchan. He featured in Tamil cinema's first sequel ''Japanil Kalyanaraman'', which followed up his previous ''Kalyanaraman''.

In 1986, he again collaborated with K. Vishwanath in ''Swathi Muthyam'' which portrayed him as an autistic person attempting to change society. The film was India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1986. The enormous response to these films in Tollywood helped him capture a strong audience in Andhra Pradesh, and many of his later Tamil films were regularly dubbed in Telugu.

Following ''Punnagai Mannan'', in which he portrayed dual roles including a satire of Charlie Chaplin as Chaplin Chellappa and ''Vetri Vizha'' as an amnesiac, Kamal Haasan appeared in Mani Ratnam's 1987 film ''Nayagan''. ''Nayagan'' portrays the life of an underworld don in Bombay. The story revolved around the life of a real-life underworld don called Varadarajan Mudaliar, while sympathetically depicting the struggle of South Indians living in Mumbai. He received his second Indian National Award for his performance and ''Nayagan'' was nominated by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1987. It was included in the Time's All-TIME 100 Movies list. In 1988, Kamal Haasan appeared in his only silent film to date, ''Pushpak'', a black comedy. In 1989, he appeared in three roles (one of which was that of a dwarf) in ''Apoorva Sagodharargal''. He then performed dual roles in ''Indrudu Chandrudu'', winning the Filmfare Best Actor Award and Nandi Awards for his performance. In 1989, Kamal Haasan starred in his last original Malayalam film as hero to date, titled ''Chanakyan''. The multi-starrer film was critically acclaimed and was a hit.

The 1980s saw the transformation of Kamal Haasan from a young heartthrob performer in Tamil films to a nationally acclaimed star appreciated for his method acting. By the end of 1980s, he had entered and tasted success in the Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi film industries, had received Filmfare awards at each industry, three national awards and had his performances recognized at international film festivals.

Tryst with comedy: 1990s[link]

In 1990, ''Michael Madhana Kamarajan'' saw Kamal Haasan go one step further from ''Apoorva Sagodharargal'', acting in four different roles as quadruplets. It started an ongoing collaboration with Crazy Mohan, a dialogue writer, for future comedy films. The film became a blockbuster, and his portrayals were all critically praised; one cook role where he spoke in Palakkad Tamil formed the crux for a future venture by his production house. Kamal Haasan won successive Best Actor awards for his portrayal of the deranged, obsessive protagonist in ''Guna'' and ''Thevar Magan'', where he played the son of actor Sivaji Ganesan. ''Guna'' met with critical acclaim but failed commercially, while the latter became a big success and was remade into Hindi as ''Virasat''. Kamal Haasan was credited for the story and became India's submission for the Academy Awards that year. After a series of films such as ''Singaravelan'', ''Maharasan'' and ''Kalaignan'', he played a cheated villager in the emotionally draining and underrated classic ''Mahanadi''. Six years after it released, it was premiered at the Rotterdam festival. He then began to appear in comedies such as ''Sathi Leelavathi'', based on the English film ''She-Devil''. The film, his home production, featured him opposite comedienne Kovai Sarala and its success led to further regional remakes. He also renewed his collobaration with Kasinadhuni Viswanath in Telugu film, ''Subha Sankalpam''. In 1995, Kamal Haasan starred in the police story ''Kuruthipunal''. His success in ''Kuruthipunal'' was followed by his third National Film Award for Best Actor, for the film ''Indian''. Playing dual roles of a freedom fighter and his untrustful son, the film also won Kamal Haasan regional awards and plaudits for his portrayal. Moreover, both films were also selected as India's submissions for the Academy Awards in their respective release years.

Kamal Haasan appeared as a woman in ''Avvai Shanmughi'', inspired by the Hollywood production ''Mrs. Doubtfire''. He initially chose noted adfilm maker Shantanu Sheorey to direct the Hindi remake of ''Avvai Shanmughi'', titled ''Chachi 420''. But unhappy with the complaints after five days of shoot and after checking the actual result, he took over as director. In 1997, Kamal Haasan began his first directorial venture, the biopic of Mohammed Yusuf Khan, ''Marudhanayagam'', which failed to complete its schedules with only half an hour and a trailer being recorded during its shoot. ''Marudhanayagam'' had been speculated to be the biggest and most expensive film in Indian cinema with a number of high profile actors technicians signing up for roles. Moreover, the film was launched in a highly publicized ceremony by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom during her visit to India in 1997. Due to budget constraints, the film failed to materialize into a feature film, but he has since stated his interest in building up funds for the project.

''Hey Ram'' and onwards: 2000–present[link]

Following a two-year hiatus in Indian cinema, he opted against reviving his magnum opus, ''Marudhanayagam'', and filmed his second directorial venture, ''Hey Ram'', a period drama told in flashback with a semi-fictional plot centering around India's Partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Kamal Haasan also took on roles as the writer, the lyricist and the choreographer as well as producing the film under his home banner. The film, also featured Shahrukh Khan and was India's submission for the Academy Awards that year. His following film was ''Aalavandhan'', where he portrayed two distinct roles, for one of which he had his head shaved bald and gained ten kilograms. To play the other army major in Alavandaan (Abhay, in Hindi), he went to the NDA for a crash course. The Hindi version Abhay was distributed by reputed Shringar Films. Despite much publicity prior to release, the film failed commercially, and he opted to repay distributors who had suffered losses with the film.

Following a series of successful comedies in ''Thenali'', ''Panchathantiram'' and ''Pammal K. Sambandam'' and a couple of guest appearances, Kamal Haasan directed his third feature film in ''Virumaandi'', a film about the death penalty which won the Best Asian Film award at Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival. Kamal Haasan also appeared in ''Anbe Sivam'' alongside Madhavan. Priyadarshan, who started the film, departed allowing commercial director Sundar C to complete the film. ''Anbe Sivam'' told the story of Nallasivam, enacted by Kamal Haasan as a communist. Kamal Haasan's performance was highly lauded by critics with ''The Hindu'' stating that he "has once again done Tamil cinema proud".

Kamal Haasan then appeared in the remake film ''Vasool Raja'' alongside Sneha. In 2006, Haasan's long delayed project, ''Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu'' emerged as a blockbuster. In 2008, he appeared in ''Dasavathaaram'' portraying ten distinct roles in the venture which was released in multiple languages including Tamil, Telugu, Hindi throughout India and overseas. ''Dasavathaaram'' is known to be one of the first modern sci-fi films made in ''India'' which Kamal Haasan co-wrote along with the film's director K. S. Ravikumar, it also remains one of the most expensive Indian films ever made. Featuring him opposite Asin Thottumkal, the film as of 2008 became the first highest grossing film ever in Tamil cinema, and won him critical praise for his performance. In Canada, the film was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the first Tamil film to be done so. The film ultimately grossed more than 250 crores worldwide. He had written the story and screenplay for the project.

Following the completion of ''Dasavathaaram'', Kamal Haasan opted to direct his fourth directorial venture, with a film tentatively titled ''Marmayogi'', which after a year of pre-production became stalled. He then opted to produce and star in a venture, ''Unnaipol Oruvan'', co-starring him with Mohanlal. The film, which had Shruti Haasan appear as the music director, became a successful venture for him at the box office. Kamal Haasan worked on his fifth collaboration with Ravikumar, in ''Manmadan Ambu'', for which he also wrote the dialogues and screenplay. The film also featured Madhavan and Trisha Krishnan and was released in December 2010. The story revolves around a man who hires a detective to find out if he is being cheated by his fiancée. This film completed one month successfully but was officially declared an average film. He is currently working on his fourth directorial venture ''Vishwaroopam'' , a spy thriller on the lines of the ''Mission Impossible'' series, which will be released in two parts.

Off-screen contributions[link]

In addition to acting, Kamal Haasan has also played various roles behind the camera and is known for his involvement in several aspects of film-making. He wrote the story and/or screen-play for many of his films including ''Raja Paarvai'', ''Apoorva Sagodharargal'', ''Guna'', ''Thevar Magan'', ''Mahanadhi'', ''Hey Ram'', ''Aalavandhan'', ''Anbe Sivam'', ''Nala Damayanthi'', ''Virumaandi'', ''Dasavathaaram'' and ''Manmadhan Ambu''. His film production company, Rajkamal International, has produced several of his films. He also directed the films ''Chachi 420'', ''Hey Ram'' and ''Virumaandi''. He considered taking up film direction full time, if ''Hey Ram'' was a success, but did not do so as the film was a box office failure. In 2010, he stated his intention to direct more films as many young actors had wished to work under him and gain his direct guidance. He wanted to turn a technician after his comeback into adult roles. Speaking about it in a lighter vein, he once said, "Film makers like K. Balachander told me that I won’t be able make much money by being a technician. So the end result is that the star Kamal funds the technician Kamal in pursuing his dreams". Kamal has attended workshops for make-up techniques in US for several years and once trained as a make-up man under Michael Westmore.

Kamal Haasan is also well known as a song-writer. He first penned lyrics for ''Hey Ram'' and followed it with films like ''Virumaandi'', ''Unnai Pol Oruvan'' and ''Manmadhan Ambu''. They were well received by his peers in the Tamil film industry. Kamal Haasan is also a playback singer. He has sung close to 70 songs in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and English.

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

Kamal Haasan was born in the town of Paramakudi in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, to a criminal lawyer named D. Srinivasan and his wife Rajalakshmi. One source says that his parents originally named him Parthasarathy. Another says that one of the four given names in his house was Parthasarathy (As revealed to Surya Sivakumar in the Shruti Haasan episode of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi). He is an Iyengar Brahmin. Kamal Haasan was the youngest of four children, the others being Charuhasan, Chandrahasan and Nalini Raghu. His father was a martinet. He wanted all his sons (Chandrahasan, Charuhasan, Kamalahaasan) to study and do well. The two elder brothers followed their father’s example and studied law. Kamal spent his childhood learning everything except staying focussed on his studies.

Kamal Haasan had referred to his parents in couple of his films, with references being made in ''Unnaipol Oruvan'' as well as in the song Kallai Mattum from ''Dasavathaaram''. His eldest brother Charuhasan, like Kamal Haasan, is a National Film Award-winning actor, who appeared in the Kannada film ''Tabarana Kathe'', among others. Kamal's niece (Charuhasan's daughter), Suhasini is also a National Film Award winner and is married to director and fellow Award winner Mani Ratnam, who collaborated with Kamal Haasan on 1987's ''Nayagan''. Chandra Haasan has appeared as the producer for several of Kamal Haasan's films as well as being an executive of Kamal Haasan's home production company, Rajkamal International. His brother's daughter Anu Hasan has appeared in several films in supporting roles, most notably in Suhasini's ''Indira''. His sister Nalini Raghu is a dance teacher. Kamal Haasan later named an auditorium after his sister as Nalini Mahal. Her son, Gautham, played Kamal Haasan's grandson in his directorial venture, ''Hey Ram''.

Relationships[link]

Despite his celebrated film career, his personal life had some setbacks which have been exploited by the media. In his early career, he co-starred in several films with actress Srividya. The pair were reported to have been a part of a notorious affair in the 1970s, with their relationship being explored in the 2008-released Malayalam film, ''Thirakkatha'' by Renjith, with Anoop Menon portraying Kamal Haasan and Priyamani playing Srividya. Srividya, who died in 2006, was visited by Kamal Haasan at her bedside during her final days. In 1978, at the age of 24, Kamal Haasan married danseuse Vani Ganapathy in a low-key affair. Vani put on the mantle of costume designer for her husband's movies and was publicized for walking along with Haasan into the Filmfare Awards South ceremony of 1980 immediately after their wedding. However, the couple split after ten years together, after Kamal Haasan began dating fellow actress Sarika, confirming in a later interview that he and Vani have never been in touch since their divorce. Kamal Haasan is a good friend of Rajinikanth and Vijayakanth.

Subsequently, Kamal Haasan and Sarika lived together from 1988, opting to marry only after having their second child. Of the two children: Shruti Haasan (born 1986) and Akshara Haasan (born 1991), the former is a singer as well as a Tollywood / Kollywood actress, while the latter is pursuing higher studies in Bangalore. Sarika took a break from acting soon after her marriage to Kamal Haasan. However, she replaced his ex-wife, Vani Ganapathy, as Haasan's costume designer, with acclaimed work in ''Hey Ram''. The couple filed for divorce in 2002, with Sarika estranging herself from Kamal Haasan by the end of the procedure in 2004. His intimate relationship with co-star Simran Bagga, who is twenty-two years younger, became the reason for the split. However, Haasan's relationship with Simran, who appeared opposite him in two consecutive ventures â€“ ''Pammal K. Sambandam'' and ''Panchathantiram'', was short-lived as Simran went on to marry her childhood friend in late 2003. Haasan now lives with former actress Gouthami Tadimalla, who starred with him in several films in the late 80s and early 90s. He had helped her during her traumatic breast cancer experience and the pair have been in a domestic relationship since 2005. Along with Shruti and Akshara, Gouthami's daughter, Subbalakshmi, from an annulled marriage also lives with them.

Religious views[link]

Kamal Haasan, despite being born into a Hindu Brahmin family, has declared himself as an atheist; many of his films, notably ''Anbe Sivam'' and ''Dasavathaaram'', both co-written by himself have featured anti-theistic views. Kamal Haasan, has also been mistaken for a Muslim due to the Arabic surname, and was famously stopped for his name at Toronto Pearson International Airport in 2002. The name originated from a friend of his father, Yaakob Hassan, a Muslim freedom fighter who spent time in prison with Kamal Haasan's father while imprisoned by the British. Yaakob Hassan had protected Srinivasan from other prisoners who hated the Brahmins. Later, he paid tribute to his friend by incorporating part of his name into his sons’ names. Kamal Haasan clarified in an interview with Karan Thapar in BBC that his last name 'Haasan' is, in fact, of Sanskrit origin from the word 'Hasya', which was his father's wish and thinks the Yaakob Hassan connection was highly publicized by media.

Political views[link]

Kamal Hassan has refrained from politics inspite of several people from the film Industry taking the plunge in Politics. He once said, the kind of politics he would indulge would get him killed in 365 days.

Humanitarian work[link]

Kamal Haasan is the first Tamil actor to convert fan clubs into welfare organisation, and is actively involved in several social service activities through the clubs under the banner ''Kamal Narpani Iyakkam''. (Kamal Welfare Association) His fan clubs are involved in organising blood and eye donation drives and donating education materials to school students. He received the first Abraham Kovoor National Award for his Humanist Activities and Secular Life in 2004. He has turned his fan associations into social service organisations. He was also the project ambassador of Hridayaragam 2010, a fundraiser to set up an orphanage for HIV/AIDS-affected children. In September 2010, Kamal Haasan launched a children’s cancer relief fund and presented roses to children with cancer at Sri Ramachandra University in Porur in the suburbs of Chennai. He has also pledged to endorse consumer products, social causes and use the money for social service.

Literary contributions[link]

Kamal Haasan was involved in running the magazine ''Mayyam'', which was run by the Kamal Haasan Welfare Association (Narpani Iyakkam). His views on a wide range of issues including cinema, child and drug abuse and the Kashmir conflict, have been collected and published as a book titled ''Thedi Theerpom Va'' (''Come, Let's Solve Together''), by his fan association. His interest in Tamil literature and his own writing skills are well known.

Awards and honours[link]

Kamal Haasan, a Padma Shri holder, is the most decorated actor in terms of awards in the history of Indian cinema. At the age of seven, he won the President's Gold Medal for his debut film ''Kalathur Kannamma''. Haasan holds the record for the most number of National Film Awards—three Best Actor awards and one award for producing the Best Regional Film—for an actor. The 1992 Tamil film ''Thevar Magan'' which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil was produced by Kamal Haasan. Moreover, Haasan holds a record nineteen Filmfare Awards, ranging across five languages. After his latest award in 2000, he wrote to the organization requesting exemption from further awards. In 2003, his films ''Hey Ram'', ''Pushpak'', ''Nayagan'' and ''Kuruthipunal'' were showcased under the "Director in Focus" category at the Rotterdam Film Festival. In 2004, ''Virumaandi'' won the very first "Best Asian film" award at Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan).

In 2005, Sathyabama Deemed University awarded Kamal Haasan an honorary doctorate. He received the Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Award for Excellence in Indian Cinema at the 2006 ceremony of the inaugural Vijay Awards. He received the Living Legend Award in 2007 from FICCI, which recognizes outstanding personalities from the entertainment arena and honors them with awards at their annual global convention, FRAMES. In 2010, the United Progressive Alliance government organised a retrospective of Kamal Haasan's films. During that event, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said the actor fell under a special category, as his cinema broke barriers of language and region. The same year, the Government of Kerala honoured him for completing 50 years in Indian cinema during the inauguration of statewide Onam celebrations in Thiruvananthapuram.

Kamal Haasan is also a recipient of the Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1979. Other recognitions includes a string of Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, Nandi Awards, Screen Awards and Vijay Awards, including four separate awards for his performance in ''Dasavathaaram''. In 2009, Kamal Haasan was appointed as the chairman of FICCI Media and Entertainment Business Conclave, organised by the entertainment division of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He has recently been roped in to be part of academic advisory council for ISFM (International school of Film+Media). Kamal Hassan was also recently invited on board an American ship as a special friend of the US Government.

Acclaim and criticism[link]

Kamal Haasan, widely respected and admired in the Indian film industry, is often praised as someone who would have won many Oscars, if he had been born outside India. His mentor K. Balachandar, while agreeing with such sentiment, says in that case Kamal would not have been able to have a diverse acting career and the adulation he has now. Mani Ratnam, who directed Kamal in ''Nayagan'', has claimed he has missed working with Kamal. Veteran Tamil actor Nagesh rated Kamal Haasan as the best actor he had seen. Kamal Haasan's contributions to films have been lavishly praised by his peers in the Indian film industry like Sridevi, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachan and Aamir Khan. Younger actors Surya, Madhavan, and Ace film makers Bala, Ameer and Gautham Menon consider Kamal Haasan as their inspiration. His list of admirers go beyond cinema. M. F. Husain has claimed, he found Kamal Haasan as the most exciting Indian film-maker/actor.

Kamal Haasan has been accused of reusing story lines, plot elements from Western films without crediting them and also for using sexually explicit scenes and themes. He has also been accused of elitism, of offending religious sentiments and of being superficial about the social issues he depicts in his films. He has also been dubbed as an actor who consciously overshadows his co-artists. Other criticisms of Kamal Haasan include complaints about his obsession with needless perfection, which has caused some of his films to overshoot their budgets.

Notable filmography[link]

! Year	! Film	! Role	! Language	Notes
1959	''Kalathur Kannamma''	Selvam	Tamil	Rashtrapati Award
1975	''Apoorva Raagangal''	Prasanna	Tamil	Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor
1977	''16 Vayathinile''	Chappani	Tamil	Filmfare Award for Best Tamil ActorTamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor
1982	''Moondram Pirai''	Srinivasan	Tamil	National Film Award for Best ActorTamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor
1983	''Sadma''	K. Somprakash ('Somu')	Hindi	Nomination for Filmfare Best Actor Award
1985	''Saagar''	Raja		Filmfare Award for Best ActorNominated—Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor
1987	''Nayagan''		Tamil	National Film Award for Best Actor
1988	''Pushpak''	Pushpak		Filmfare Award for Best Actor
1992	''Thevar Magan''	Shakthivelu Thevar	Tamil	Filmfare Award for Best Tamil ActorTamil Nadu State Film Award for Best ActorAlso producer and screenwriter
1995	''Kuruthipunal''	Adhi Naarayanan	Tamil	Filmfare Award for Best Tamil ActorAlso producer and screenwriter
1996		Senapathy Bose,Chandra Bose	Tamil	National Film Award for Best ActorFilmfare Award for Best Tamil ActorTamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor
2000	''Hey Ram''	Saket Ram	Tamil	Filmfare Award for Best Tamil ActorAlso producer, director, and screenwriter
2004	''Virumaandi''	Virumaandi	Tamil	Best Film Award at Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival

References[link]

External links[link]

Category:National Film Award winners Category:Indian film directors Category:Tamil actors Category:Tamil film directors Category:Tamil playback singers Category:Indian agnostics Category:Indian atheists Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:Indian film actors Category:Indian voice actors Category:Filmfare Awards winners Category:Indian amateur radio operators Category:Telugu film actors Category:Tamil people Category:Kannada film actors Category:Non Malayali actors acted in Malayalam-language films Category:Indian actors Category:People from Chennai Category:Tamil screenwriters Category:Kollywood playback singers Category:People from Tamil Nadu Category:Indian screenwriters Category:Indian film producers Category:Hindi film actors Category:Indian humanitarians Category:Malayalam film actors Category:Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners

bn:কামাল হাসান de:Kamal Haasan hi:कमल हासन fa:کمال حسن fr:Kamal Haasan kn:ಕಮಲà³? ಹಾಸನà³? ml:കമലഹാസൻ mr:कमल हासन pl:Kamal Hassan simple:Kamal Haasan ta:கமலà¯?ஹாà®?னà¯? te:కమలà±? హాసనà±? wuu:å?¡èŒ‚尔·哈ç?? ms:Kamal Hassan

name	Baba Brinkman
background	solo_singer
birth name	Dirk Murray Brinkman
birth date	October 22, 1978
birth place	Riondel, Canada
origin	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
genre	Canadian hip hop
occupation	poet, rapper, playwright
years active	2004–present
website	}}

"Baba" Dirk Murray Brinkman Jr (born October 22, 1978) is a Canadian rapper and playwright best known for recordings and performances that combine hip hop music with literature, theatre and science.

Biography [link]

Born in the remote community of Riondel, British Columbia, in a log cabin built by his parents, Brinkman is the eldest of three children of Joyce Murray, a Member of the Parliament of Canada, and Dirk Brinkman Sr, who is notable for having founded a company responsible for planting one billion trees. Dirk Sr gave Brinkman the honorific nickname "Baba" at birth, because of his son's contemplative, Buddha-like expression. Brinkman's childhood was divided between Vancouver and the Kootenay region of British Columbia. He attended Crawford Bay School and Relevant High, a democratic school.

Brinkman spent his early summers in remote tree planting camps,, and began planting trees himself at the age of 15. He worked for his parents' business, Brinkman & Associates Reforestation, for twelve seasons in British Columbia and Alberta, personally planting more than one million trees. During this period he also earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Simon Fraser University and a Master of Arts degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Victoria, Canada. He studied human evolution and primatology with the orangutan researcher Biruté Galdikas and wrote his thesis comparing modern Hip hop freestyle battling with The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

Literature Rap [link]

Brinkman first gained widespread media attention for his one-man show "The Rap Canterbury Tales", devised as a means of re-telling Chaucer's iconic stories for a modern audience. The show premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2004, and the following year Brinkman was sponsored by Cambridge University to perform the show in British secondary schools. The Rap Canterbury Tales was published as an illustrated paperback by Talon Books in 2006.

Brinkman's 2010 follow-up show, Rapconteur, premiered at the Edinburgh Free Fringe and features hip hop adaptations of Beowulf, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Finnish Kalevala. Because of his interest in merging hip hop and classic literature, Brinkman has referred to his style of rap as "Lit hop", which was also the title of his 2006 solo rap album.

Science Rap [link]

In 2008, Brinkman was commissioned to write a new rap show about evolution by Professor Mark Pallen, a Birmingham University microbiologist and author of The Rough Guide to Evolution. The result was "The Rap Guide to Evolution," a hip hop homage to Charles Darwin which Brinkman first performed in Britain for the Darwin bicentennial in February 2009. Because the lyrics were fact-checked for scientific accuracy, Professor. Pallen calls it "the first peer-reviewed rap". Brinkman cites Richard Dawkins, David Sloan Wilson, Jared Diamond, Geoffrey Miller, and E. O. Wilson as his influences in writing the show.

The Rap Guide to Evolution premiered at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, winning a Fringe First Award from The Scotsman for best new theatre writing. In 2010 the UK's largest biomedical charity, the Wellcome Trust, provided grant funding for Brinkman to make a series of educational music videos based on the show, as a resource for biology teachers. The Rap Guide to Evolution began an Off-Broadway run in New York City in June 2011.

Brinkman followed up his Darwin-tribute with a sequel show specifically about evolutionary psychology, The Rap Guide to Human Nature, which also premiered at the Fringe in 2010.

Controversy [link]

The Rap Guide to Evolution has been viewed unfavourably for a variety of reasons. A science writer for The Scientist Magazine called the project "misguided" and accused Brinkman of "if not misogyny, then at least sexism" for his use of "scantily clad women" in the Wellcome Trust music videos.

When asked what other subjects he intends to explore through rap, Brinkman responded: "Global warming, health care policy, religion, gender politics. As long as it’s controversial I’m interested."

Works [link]

Theatre [link]

2004: The Rap Canterbury Tales

2008: The Rebel Cell (co-written with MC Dizraeli)

2009: The Rap Guide to Evolution

2010: Rapconteur

2010: The Rap Guide to Human Nature

Discography [link]

2004: Swordplay

2004: The Rap Canterbury Tales

2005: Pandemonium

2006: Lit-Hop

2009: The Rap Guide to Evolution

2009: Apocalyptic Utopian Dreams in the Western Wilderness

2010: Rapconteur

2010: The Rap Guide to Human Nature

2011: The Rap Guide to Evolution: Revised

2011: The Rap Guide to Business

Writings [link]

The Rap Canterbury Tales, Talon Books 2006

"The Speciation of Rap" The Evolutionary Review, Volume 2, March 2011

References [link]

External links [link]

http://www.bababrinkman.com/

http://www.rapguide.com/

http://www.rapguidetoevolution.co.uk

Presenting at Cusp Conference 2010 (video)

Category:Canadian poets Category:Living people Category:1978 births Category:Writers from British Columbia Category:Simon Fraser University alumni Category:University of Victoria alumni

region	Western Philosophy
era	17th-century philosophy
color	#B0C4DE
name	René Descartes
birth date	March 31, 1596
birth place	La Haye en Touraine, Touraine (present-day Descartes, Indre-et-Loire), France
death date	February 11, 1650
death place	Stockholm, Sweden
school tradition	Cartesianism, Rationalism, Foundationalism
religion	Roman Catholic
main interests	Metaphysics, Epistemology, Mathematics
influences	Plato, Aristotle, Alhazen, Ghazali, Averroes, Avicenna, Anselm, St. Augustine, Aquinas, Ockham, Suarez, Mersenne, Sextus Empiricus, Michel de Montaigne, Duns Scotus
influenced	Most philosophers after including: Aflaq, Spinoza, Hobbes, Arnauld, Malebranche, Pascal, Locke, Leibniz, More, Kant, Husserl, Brunschvicg, Žižek, Chomsky, Stanley, Dirck Rembrantsz van Nierop, Durkheim
notable ideas	Cogito ergo sum, method of doubt, Cartesian coordinate system, Cartesian dualism, ontological argument for the existence of Christian God; Folium of Descartes
signature	Firma Descartes.svg }}

René Descartes (; Latinized form: ''Renatus Cartesius''; adjectival form: "Cartesian"; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day. In particular, his ''Meditations on First Philosophy'' continues to be a standard text at most university philosophy departments. Descartes' influence in mathematics is equally apparent; the Cartesian coordinate system — allowing algebraic equations to be expressed as geometric shapes in a two-dimensional coordinate system — was named after him. He is credited as the father of analytical geometry, the bridge between algebra and geometry, crucial to the discovery of infinitesimal calculus and analysis. Descartes was also one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution and has been described as an example of genius.

Descartes frequently sets his views apart from those of his predecessors. In the opening section of the ''Passions of the Soul'', a treatise on the Early Modern version of what are now commonly called emotions, Descartes goes so far as to assert that he will write on this topic "as if no one had written on these matters before". Many elements of his philosophy have precedents in late Aristotelianism, the revived Stoicism of the 16th century, or in earlier philosophers like St. Augustine. In his natural philosophy, he differs from the schools on two major points: First, he rejects the analysis of corporeal substance into matter and form; second, he rejects any appeal to ends—divine or natural—in explaining natural phenomena. In his theology, he insists on the absolute freedom of God’s act of creation.

Descartes was a major figure in 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, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 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.

He is perhaps best known for the philosophical statement "''Cogito ergo sum''" (; ), 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).

Biography[link]

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. His father Joachim was a member in the provincial parliament. At the age of eight, he entered the Jesuit Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand at La Flèche. After graduation in December 1616, he studied at the University of Poitiers, earning a ''Baccalauréat'' and ''Licence'' in law, in accordance with his father's wishes that he should become a lawyer.

"I entirely abandoned the study of letters. Resolving to seek no knowledge other than that of which could be found in myself or else in the great book of the world, I spent the rest of my youth traveling, visiting courts and armies, mixing with people of diverse temperaments and ranks, gathering various experiences, testing myself in the situations which fortune offered me, and at all times reflecting upon whatever came my way so as to derive some profit from it." (Descartes, ''Discourse on the Method'').

In 1618, Descartes was engaged in the army of Maurice of Nassau in the Dutch Republic, but as a truce had been established between Holland and Spain, Descartes used his spare time to study mathematics. In this way he became acquainted with Isaac Beeckman, principal of Dordrecht school. Beeckman had proposed a difficult mathematical problem, and to his astonishment, it was the young Descartes who found the solution. Both believed that it was necessary to create a method that thoroughly linked mathematics and physics. While in the service of the Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, Descartes was present at the Battle of the White Mountain outside Prague, in November 1620.

On the night of 10–11 November 1619, while stationed in Neuburg an der Donau, Germany, Descartes experienced a series of three powerful dreams or visions that he later claimed profoundly influenced his life. He concluded from these visions that the pursuit of science would prove to be, for him, the pursuit of true wisdom and a central part of his life's work. Descartes also saw very clearly that all truths were linked with one another, so that finding a fundamental truth and proceeding with logic would open the way to all science. This basic truth, Descartes found quite soon: his famous "I think".

In 1622 he returned to France, and during the next few years spent time in Paris and other parts of Europe. It was during a stay in Paris that he composed his first essay on method: ''Regulae ad Directionem Ingenii'' (Rules for the Direction of the Mind). He arrived in La Haye in 1623, selling all of his property to invest in bonds, which provided a comfortable income for the rest of his life. Descartes was present at the siege of La Rochelle by Cardinal Richelieu in 1627.

He returned to the Dutch Republic in 1628, where he lived until September 1649. In April 1629 he joined the University of Franeker, living at the Sjaerdemaslot, and the next year, under the name "Poitevin", he enrolled at the Leiden University to study mathematics with Jacob Golius and astronomy with Martin Hortensius. In October 1630 he had a falling-out with Beeckman, whom he accused of plagiarizing some of his ideas. In Amsterdam, he had a relationship with a servant girl, Helena Jans van der Strom, with whom he had a daughter, Francine, who was born in 1635 in Deventer, at which time Descartes taught at the Utrecht University. Francine Descartes died in 1640 in Amersfoort, from Scarlet Fever.

While in the Netherlands he changed his address frequently, living among other places in Dordrecht (1628), Franeker (1629), Amsterdam (1629–30), Leiden (1630), Amsterdam (1630–32), Deventer (1632–34), Amsterdam (1634–35), Utrecht (1635–36), Leiden (1636), Egmond (1636–38), Santpoort (1638–1640), Leiden (1640–41), Endegeest (a castle near Oegstgeest) (1641–43), and finally for an extended time in Egmond-Binnen (1643–49).

Despite these frequent moves he wrote all his major work during his 20-plus years in the Netherlands, where he managed to revolutionize mathematics and philosophy. In 1633, Galileo was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church, and Descartes abandoned plans to publish ''Treatise on the World'', his work of the previous four years. Nevertheless, in 1637 he published part of this work in three essays: ''Les Météores'' (The Meteors), ''La Dioptrique'' (Dioptrics) and ''La Géométrie'' (Geometry), preceded by an introduction, his famous ''Discours de la Métode'' (Discourse on the Method). In it Descartes lays out four rules of thought, meant to ensure that our knowledge rests upon a firm foundation.

Descartes continued to publish works concerning both mathematics and philosophy for the rest of his life. In 1641 he published a metaphysics work, ''Meditationes de Prima Philosophia'' (Meditations on First Philosophy), written in Latin and thus addressed to the learned. It was followed, in 1644, by ''Principia Philosophiæ'' (Principles of Philosophy), a kind of synthesis of the Meditations and the Discourse. In 1643, Cartesian philosophy was condemned at the University of Utrecht, and Descartes began his long correspondence with Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, devoted mainly to moral and psychological subjects. Connected with this correspondence, in 1649 he published ''Les Passions de l'âme'' (Passions of the Soul), that he dedicated to the Princess. In 1647, he was awarded a pension by the King of France. Descartes was interviewed by Frans Burman at Egmond-Binnen in 1648.

A French translation of ''Principia Philosophiæ'', prepared by Abbot Claude Picot, was published in 1647. This edition Descartes dedicated to Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia. In the preface Descartes praised true philosophy as a means to attain wisdom. He identifies four ordinary sources to reach wisdom, and finally says that there is a fifth, better and more secure, consisting in the search for first causes.

René Descartes died on 11 February 1650 in Stockholm, Sweden, where he had been invited as a tutor for Queen Christina of Sweden. The cause of death was said to be pneumonia; accustomed to working in bed until noon, he may have suffered damage to his health from Christina's demands for early morning study (the lack of sleep could have severely compromised his immune system). Descartes stayed at the French ambassador Pierre Chanut.

In 1663, the Pope placed his works on the Index of Prohibited Books.

As a Roman Catholic in a Protestant nation, he was interred in a graveyard used mainly for unbaptized infants in Adolf Fredriks kyrka in Stockholm. Later, his remains were taken to France and buried in the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris. Although the National Convention in 1792 had planned to transfer his remains to the Panthéon, they are, two centuries later, still resting between two other graves — those of the scholarly monks Jean Mabillon and Bernard de Montfaucon — in a chapel of the abbey. His memorial, erected in the 18th century, remains in the Swedish church.

Religious beliefs[link]

The religious beliefs of René Descartes have been rigorously debated within scholarly circles. He claimed to be a devout Roman Catholic, claiming that one of the purposes of the ''Meditations'' was to defend the Christian faith. However, in his own era, Descartes was accused of harboring secret deist or atheist beliefs. Contemporary Blaise Pascal said that "I cannot forgive Descartes; in all his philosophy, Descartes did his best to dispense with God. But Descartes could not avoid prodding God to set the world in motion with a snap of his lordly fingers; after that, he had no more use for God."

Stephen Gaukroger's biography of Descartes reports that "he had a deep religious faith as a Catholic, which he retained to his dying day, along with a resolute, passionate desire to discover the truth." After Descartes died in Sweden, Queen Christina abdicated her throne to convert to Roman Catholicism (Swedish law required a Protestant ruler). The only Roman Catholic with whom she had prolonged contact was Descartes, who was her personal tutor.

Philosophical work[link]

Descartes is often regarded as the first thinker to emphasize the use of reason to develop the natural sciences. For him the philosophy was a thinking system that embodied all knowledge, and expressed it in this way: In his ''Discourse on the Method'', he attempts to arrive at a fundamental set of principles that one can know as true without any doubt. To achieve this, he employs a method called hyperbolical/metaphysical doubt, also sometimes referred to as methodological skepticism: he rejects any ideas that can be doubted, and then reestablishes them in order to acquire a firm foundation for genuine knowledge.

Initially, Descartes arrives at only a single principle: thought exists. Thought cannot be separated from me, therefore, I exist (''Discourse on the Method'' and ''Principles of Philosophy''). Most famously, this is known as ''cogito ergo sum'' (English: "I think, therefore I am"). Therefore, Descartes concluded, if he doubted, then something or someone must be doing the doubting, therefore the very fact that he doubted proved his existence. "The simple meaning of the phrase is that if one is skeptical of existence, that is in and of itself proof that he does exist."

Descartes concludes that he can be certain that he exists because he thinks. But in what form? He perceives his body through the use of the senses; however, these have previously been unreliable. So Descartes determines that the only indubitable knowledge is that he is a ''thinking thing''. Thinking is what he does, and his power must come from his essence. Descartes defines "thought" (''cogitatio'') as "what happens in me such that I am immediately conscious of it, insofar as I am conscious of it". Thinking is thus every activity of a person of which he is immediately conscious.

To further demonstrate the limitations of the senses, Descartes proceeds with what is known as the ''Wax Argument''. He considers a piece of wax; his senses inform him that it has certain characteristics, such as shape, texture, size, color, smell, and so forth. When he brings the wax towards a flame, these characteristics change completely. However, it seems that it is still the same thing: it is still the same piece of wax, even though the data of the senses inform him that all of its characteristics are different. Therefore, in order to properly grasp the nature of the wax, he should put aside the senses. He must use his mind. Descartes concludes:

In this manner, Descartes proceeds to construct a system of knowledge, discarding perception as unreliable and instead admitting only deduction as a method. In the third and fifth ''Meditation'', he offers an ontological proof of a benevolent God (through both the ontological argument and trademark argument). Because God is benevolent, he can have some faith in the account of reality his senses provide him, for God has provided him with a working mind and sensory system and does not desire to deceive him. From this supposition, however, he finally establishes the possibility of acquiring knowledge about the world based on deduction ''and'' perception. In terms of epistemology therefore, he can be said to have contributed such ideas as a rigorous conception of foundationalism and the possibility that reason is the only reliable method of attaining knowledge. He, nevertheless, was very much aware that experimentation was necessary in order to verify and validate theories.

Descartes also wrote a response to skepticism about the existence of the external world. He argues that sensory perceptions come to him involuntarily, and are not willed by him. They are external to his senses, and according to Descartes, this is evidence of the existence of something outside of his mind, and thus, an external world. Descartes goes on to show that the things in the external world are material by arguing that God would not deceive him as to the ideas that are being transmitted, and that God has given him the "propensity" to believe that such ideas are caused by material things.

Dualism[link]

Descartes in his Passions of the Soul and The Description of the Human Body suggested that the body works like a machine, that it has material properties. The mind (or soul), on the other hand, was described as a nonmaterial and does not follow the laws of nature. Descartes argued that the mind interacts with the body at the pineal gland. This form of dualism or duality proposes that the mind controls the body, but that the body can also influence the otherwise rational mind, such as when people act out of passion. Most of the previous accounts of the relationship between mind and body had been uni-directional.

Descartes suggested that the pineal gland is "the seat of the soul" for several reasons. First, the soul is unitary, and unlike many areas of the brain the pineal gland appeared to be unitary (though subsequent microscopic inspection has revealed it is formed of two hemispheres). Second, Descartes observed that the pineal gland was located near the ventricles. He believed the cerebrospinal fluid of the ventricles acted through the nerves to control the body, and that the pineal gland influenced this process. Cartesian dualism set the agenda for philosophical discussion of the mind–body problem for many years after Descartes's death.

Although Descartes realized that both humans and animals have pineal glands (see ''Passions of the Soul'' Part One, Section 50, AT 369), he believed that ''only humans have minds''. This led him to the belief that animals cannot feel pain, and Descartes's practice of vivisection (the dissection of live animals) became widely used throughout Europe until the Enlightenment.

Reference: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online): Descartes and the Pineal Gland.

Descartes' moral philosophy[link]

For Descartes, Morals was a science, the highest and most perfect of them, and like the rest of sciences had its roots in Metaphysics. In this way he argues for the existence of God, investigates the place of men in nature, formulates the theory of mind-body dualism and defends free will. But, he being a convinced rationalist, clearly estates that Reason suffices us in the search for the goods we should seek, and for him, virtue consists in the correct reasoning that should guide our actions. Nevertheless, the quality of this reasoning depends on knowledge, as a well informed mind will be more capable of making good choices, and also on mental condition. For this reason he said that a complete moral philosophy should include the study of the body. He discussed this subject in the correspondence with Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, and as a result wrote his work ''The Passions of the Soul'', that contains a study of the psychosomatic processes and reactions in man, with an emphasis on emotions or passions.

Men should seek the sovereign good that Descartes, following Zeno, identifies with virtue, as this produces a solid blessedness or pleasure. For Epicurus the sovereign good was pleasure, and Descartes says that in fact this is not in contradiction with Zeno's teaching, because virtue produces a spiritual pleasure, that is better than bodily pleasure. Regarding Aristotle opinion that happiness depends on the goods of fortune, Descartes does not deny that this goods contribute to happiness, but remarks that they are in great proportion outside our control, whereas our mind is under our complete control.

The moral writings of Descartes came at the last part of his life, but earlier, in his ''Discourse on Method'' he adopted three maxims to be able to act while he put all his ideas into doubt. This is known as his "Provisional Morals".

Historical impact[link]

Emancipation from Church doctrine[link]

Descartes has been often dubbed as the father of modern Western philosophy, the philosopher that with his sceptic approach has profoundly changed the course of Western philosophy and set the basis for modernity. The first two of his ''Meditations on First Philosophy'', those that formulate the famous methodic doubt, are the portion of Descartes writings that most influenced modern thinking. It has been argued that Descartes himself didn't realize the extent of his revolutionary gesture. In shifting the debate from "what is true" to "of what can I be certain?," Descartes shifted the authoritative guarantor of truth from God to Man (While traditional concept of "truth" implies an external authority, "certainty" instead relies on the judgement of the individual Man). In an anthropocentric revolution, Man is now raised to the level of a subject, an agent, an emancipated being equipped with autonomous reason. This is a revolutionary step which posed the basis of modernity (whose repercussion are still ongoing): the emancipation of man from Christian revelational truth and Church doctrine, a man that makes his own law and takes its own stand. In modernity, the guarantor of truth is not God anymore but Man, a "self-conscious shaper and guarantor" of his reality. Man in this way is turned into a reasoning adult, a subject and agent, as opposed to a child obedient to God. This change in perspective was characteristic of the shift from the Christian mediaval period to the modern period, it had been anticipated in other fields and now Descartes was giving it a formulation in the field of philosophy.

This anthropocentric perspective, establishing human reason as autonomous, posed the basis for the Enlightenment's emancipation from God and the Church. It also posed the basis for all subsequent anthropology. Descartes philosophical revolution is sometimes said to have sparked modern anthropocentrism and subjectivism.

Mathematical legacy[link]

One of Descartes' most enduring legacies was his development of Cartesian or analytic geometry, which uses algebra to describe geometry. He "invented the convention of representing unknowns in equations by ''x'', ''y'', and ''z'', and knowns by ''a'', ''b'', and ''c''". He also "pioneered the standard notation" that uses superscripts to show the powers or exponents, for example the 4 used in x⁴ to indicate squaring of squaring. He was first to assign a fundamental place for algebra in our system of knowledge, and believed that algebra was a method to automate or mechanize reasoning, particularly about abstract, unknown quantities. European mathematicians had previously viewed geometry as a more fundamental form of mathematics, serving as the foundation of algebra. Algebraic rules were given geometric proofs by mathematicians such as Pacioli, Cardan, Tartaglia and Ferrari. Equations of degree higher than the third were regarded as unreal, because a three dimensional form, such as a cube, occupied the largest dimension of reality. Descartes professed that the abstract quantity ''a²'' could represent length as well as an area. This was in opposition to the teachings of mathematicians, such as Vieta, who argued that it could represent only area. Although Descartes did not pursue the subject, he preceded Leibniz in envisioning a more general science of algebra or "universal mathematics," as a precursor to symbolic logic, that could encompass logical principles and methods symbolically, and mechanize general reasoning.

Descartes’ work provided the basis for the calculus developed by Newton and Leibniz, who applied infinitesimal calculus to the tangent line problem, thus permitting the evolution of that branch of modern mathematics. His rule of signs is also a commonly used method to determine the number of positive and negative roots of a polynomial.

Descartes discovered an early form of the law of conservation of mechanical momentum (a measure of the motion of an object), and envisioned it as pertaining to motion in a straight line, as opposed to perfect circular motion, as Galileo had envisioned it. He outlined his views on the universe in his Principles of Philosophy.

Descartes also made contributions to the field of optics. He showed by using geometric construction and the law of refraction (also known as Descartes's law or more commonly Snell's law, who discovered it 16 years earlier) that the angular radius of a rainbow is 42 degrees (i.e., the angle subtended at the eye by the edge of the rainbow and the ray passing from the sun through the rainbow's centre is 42°). He also independently discovered the law of reflection, and his essay on optics was the first published mention of this law.

Contemporary reception[link]

Although Descartes was well known in academic circles towards the end of his life, the teaching of his works in schools was controversial. Henri de Roy (Henricus Regius, 1598–1679), Professor of Medicine at the University of Utrecht, was condemned by the Rector of the University, Gijsbert Voet (Voetius), for teaching Descartes's physics.

Writings[link]

1618. ''Compendium Musicae''. A treatise on music theory and the aesthetics of music written for Descartes's early collaborator, Isaac Beeckman.

1626–1628. ''Regulae ad directionem ingenii'' (''Rules for the Direction of the Mind''). Incomplete. First published posthumously in 1684. The best critical edition, which includes an early Dutch translation, is edited by Giovanni Crapulli (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1966).

1630–1633. ''Le Monde'' (''The World'') and ''L'Homme'' (''Man''). Descartes's first systematic presentation of his natural philosophy. ''Man'' was published posthumously in Latin translation in 1662; and ''The World'' posthumously in 1664.

1637. ''Discours de la méthode'' (''Discourse on the Method''). An introduction to the ''Essais'', which include the ''Dioptrique'', the ''Météores'' and the ''Géométrie''.

1637. ''La Géométrie'' (''Geometry''). Descartes's major work in mathematics. There is an English translation by Michael Mahoney (New York: Dover, 1979).

1641. ''Meditationes de prima philosophia'' (''Meditations on First Philosophy''), also known as ''Metaphysical Meditations''. In Latin; a French translation, probably done without Descartes's supervision, was published in 1647. Includes six Objections and Replies. A second edition, published the following year, included an additional objection and reply, and a ''Letter to Dinet''.

1644. ''Principia philosophiae'' (''Principles of Philosophy''), a Latin textbook at first intended by Descartes to replace the Aristotelian textbooks then used in universities. A French translation, ''Principes de philosophie'' by Claude Picot, under the supervision of Descartes, appeared in 1647 with a letter-preface to Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia.

1647. ''Notae in programma'' (''Comments on a Certain Broadsheet''). A reply to Descartes's one-time disciple Henricus Regius.

1647. ''The Description of the Human Body''. Published posthumously.

1648. ''Responsiones Renati Des Cartes...'' (''Conversation with Burman''). Notes on a Q&A; session between Descartes and Frans Burman on 16 April 1648. Rediscovered in 1895 and published for the first time in 1896. An annotated bilingual edition (Latin with French translation), edited by Jean-Marie Beyssade, was published in 1981 (Paris: PUF).

1649. ''Les passions de l'âme'' (''Passions of the Soul''). Dedicated to Princess Elisabeth of the Palatinate.

1656. ''Musicae Compendium'' (''Instruction in Music''). Posth. Publ.: Johannes Janssonius jun., Amsterdam

1657. ''Correspondance''. Published by Descartes's literary executor Claude Clerselier. The third edition, in 1667, was the most complete; Clerselier omitted, however, much of the material pertaining to mathematics.

In January 2010, a previously unknown letter from Descartes, dated 27 May 1641, was found by the Dutch philosopher Erik-Jan Bos when browsing through Google. Bos found the letter mentioned in a summary of autographs kept by Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania. The College was unaware that the letter had never been published. This was the third letter by Descartes found in the last 25 years.

See also[link]

3587 Descartes, asteroid

Analytic geometry

Balloonist theory

Baruch Spinoza

Philosophy of Spinoza

Cartesian circle

Cartesian coordinate system

Cartesian diagram

Cartesian diver

Cartesian morphism

Cartesian product

Cartesian product of graphs

Cartesian tree

Defect (geometry)

Descartes' rule of signs

Descartes' theorem

Dualistic interactionism

Folium of Descartes

Self-organization

Scientific Revolution

Solipsism

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

References[link]

Collected works[link]

1983. ''Oeuvres de Descartes'' in 11 vols. Adam, Charles, and Tannery, Paul, eds. Paris: Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin. This work is traditionally cited with the initials ''AT'' (for Adam and Tannery) followed by a volume number in Roman numerals; thus ''ATVII'' refers to ''Oeuvres de Descartes'' volume 7.

Collected English translations[link]

1955. ''The Philosophical Works'', E.S. Haldane and G.R.T. Ross, trans. Dover Publications. This work is traditionally cited with the initials ''HR'' (for Haldane and Ross) followed by a volume number in Roman numerals; thus ''HRII'' refers to volume 2 of this edition.

1988. ''The Philosophical Writings Of Descartes'' in 3 vols. Cottingham, J., Stoothoff, R., Kenny, A., and Murdoch, D., trans. Cambridge University Press.

Single works[link]

1618. ''Compendium Musicae''.

1628. ''Rules for the Direction of the Mind''.

1637. ''Discourse on the Method'' ("Discours de la Methode"). An introduction to ''Dioptrique'', ''Des Météores'' and ''La Géométrie''. Original in French, because intended for a wider public.

1637. ''La Géométrie''. Smith, David E., and Lantham, M. L., trans., 1954. ''The Geometry of René Descartes''. Dover.

1641. ''Meditations on First Philosophy''. Cottingham, J., trans., 1996. Cambridge University Press. Latin original. Alternative English title: ''Metaphysical Meditations''. Includes six ''Objections and Replies''. A second edition published the following year, includes an additional ‘’Objection and Reply’’ and a ''Letter to Dinet''. HTML Online Latin-French-English Edition

1644. ''Les Principes de la philosophie''. Miller, V. R. and R. P., trans., 1983. ''Principles of Philosophy''. Reidel.

1647. ''Comments on a Certain Broadsheet''.

1647. ''The Description of the Human Body''.

1648. ''Conversation with Burman''.

1649. ''Passions of the Soul''. Voss, S. H., trans., 1989. Indianapolis: Hackett. Dedicated to Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia.

Secondary literature[link]

Farrell, John. “Demons of Descartes and Hobbes.� ''Paranoia and Modernity: Cervantes to Rousseau'' (Cornell UP, 2006), chapter 7.

Giuseppe Leone, [Il quarto centenario dalla nascita di Cartesio (1596)], Una "ragione" per l'Europa Unita, in "Ricorditi di me...", su Lecco 2000, Aprile 1996.

Gillespie, A. (2006). Descartes’ demon: A dialogical analysis of ‘Meditations on First Philosophy.’ Theory & Psychology, 16, 761–781.

Martin Heidegger [1938] (2002) ''The Age of the World Picture'' in ''Off the beaten track''

Moreno Romo, Juan Carlos (Coord.), ''Descartes vivo. Ejercicios de hermenéutica cartesiana'', Anthropos, Barcelona, 2007''''

Moreno Romo, Juan Carlos, ''Vindicación del cartesianismo radical'', Anthropos, Barcelona, 2010.

Serfati, M., 2005, "Geometria" in Ivor Grattan-Guinness, ed., ''Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics''. Elsevier: 1–22.

External links[link]

Video

''Bernard Williams interviewed about Descartes on "Men of ideas"''

General

Detailed biography of Descartes

Descartes featured on the 100 French Franc banknote from 1942.

More easily readable versions of ''Meditations'', ''Objections and Replies'', ''Principles of Philosophy'', ''Discourse on the Method'', Correspondence with Princess Elisabeth, and ''Passions of the Soul''.

1984 John Cottingham translation of ''Meditations'' and ''Objections and Replies''.

René Descartes (1596–1650) Published in ''Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition'' (1996)

Original texts of René Descartes in French at La Philosophie

Descartes Philosophical Writings tr. by Norman Kemp Smith at archive.org

Studies in the Cartesian philosophy (1902) by Norman Kemp Smith at archive.org

The Philosophical Works Of Descartes Volume II (1934) at archive.org

René Descartes (1596—1650): Overview(IEP)

René Descartes:The Mind-Body Distinction(IEP)

Cartesian skepticism(DEP)

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

René Descartes

Descartes' Epistemology

Descartes' Ethics

Descartes' Life and Works

Descartes' Modal Metaphysics

Descartes' Ontological Argument

Descartes and the Pineal Gland

Descartes' Physics

Descartes' Theory of Ideas

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