René Descartes was a philosopher who substantiated the leading role of reason in knowledge and significantly contributed to the development of rationalism. The first philosophical principle of this thinker is that it is impossible to question a person’s ability to think. This principle identifies the primary role of human perception of the world as central to the knowledge of the world around people. Using such an idea makes it possible to construct a new philosophical understanding that is not inherently dependent on external factors. Thus, Descartes’ first principle of philosophy reflects the rationalistic nature of cognition and is a fundamental element of New Age philosophy. Moreover, it is possible to trace the features of this principle in the works of many philosophers of previous and subsequent generations.
Descartes’ first principle is based on ideas of rational thinking and the definition of the central element of cognition of the world. The philosopher explained his reasoning based on several facts of objective reality. Many items and phenomena in the world are incomprehensible to the human mind. For instance, the questions of the existence and role of God, the immortality of the soul, and the arrangement of facts remained topical questions of the seventeenth century. All such issues have a common feature: the possibility of doubting any assertion. Thus the existence of doubt is a fact that does not require evidence. Considering that doubts are the result of the thinking process, it follows to affirm the objective reality of reason as the central element of one’s worldview. With such logical arguments, René Descartes explained the essence of the first principle.
The nature of Descartes’ first principle is based on the necessity to derive an absolute truth that can be the basis for the study of being. Consciousness, or the capacity to think, is the starting point in this principle because it represents the philosopher’s absolute certainty of the objectivity of his existence. However, this principle is primarily concerned with the philosopher’s personality, which does not allow it to be interpreted as a certainty of the existence of other persons or phenomena. Descartes’ ideas of this kind are used as proof of the existence of absolute truth, which correlates with epistemological knowledge in the context of attributing to specific knowledge the nature of initial credibility. In general, the nature of this philosophical principle is to identify the most authentic truth as the minimum point on which it is possible to perceive the world rationally.
The first principle of Descartes’ philosophy has common features with the ideas of philosophers of past generations. For example, Aristotle considered the significant value of doxa, a generally accepted opinion that is not subject to doubt. This term has similarities with Descartes’ first principle in that it refers to assertions, the truth of which does not require proof. Nevertheless, this notion, criticized as early as Antiquity, fundamentally differs from Descartes’ ideas. The main difference between Descartes’ and Aristotle’s views in the context of general truth is the rationality of the justification. René Descartes formulates the first principle utilizing logical inferences, concluding the validity of the fundamental matter without which the perception of being is impossible. Thus, ideas similar to the first principle of Descartes’ philosophy existed as early as the philosophers of ancient Greece, but they were not distinguished by complete rationality.
Descartes’ philosophical views are similar to those of the Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset. Ortega’s work relies significantly on the inner human conscience and thinking process. This philosopher describes the direction of one’s philosophical path, which is the need to temporarily cut oneself off from the world and to make plans without being influenced by external influences. This Spanish philosopher emphasizes the central role of thinking in perceiving all matters. In this regard, believing in the necessity of isolation from the inner world is described as a process necessary for making the correct inferences. Ortega points to the development of man’s ability to isolate from the world in one’s mind, describing it as a complex process that has been developing over the millennia. Such ideas contrast with Descartes’ first principle as they more clearly distinguish the surrounding world as an element of being. In general, Jose Ortega y Gasset’s views are similar to Descartes’ principle. Still, they have significant differences since they focus on the relationship between the human mind and the world around it.
René Descartes’ ideas about the primary role of the human mind have a significant role in rationalist philosophy. Using principles based on reason’s importance allows us to approach the search for answers to philosophical questions from an unbiased perspective. Descartes’ first principle summarizes the philosopher’s rationalist views, defining the worldview based on undeniable facts. Utilizing such facts of being plays an essential role in the development of philosophy and science as it allows the exploration of human existence based on the facts of objective reality. The nature of this principle reflects an objective approach to knowledge of the world, for it is to give reason the leading role. More modern philosophers use similar ideas in describing the principles of a philosophical worldview. Overall, the first principle of René Descartes’ philosophy is based on logical inference and a rationalistic view of being and is reflected in varying degrees in the ideas of philosophers of different generations.