On Influences Of Mathematics On Descartes And Spinoza Philosophies

Influences of mathematics on philosophy came from Pythagorean School. Through Plato's inheritance, this influence has lasted until 13 centuries when Aristotelianism widely spread. In the Renaissance, because of the development of natural philosophy, and the rise of mathematics and the effective application of mathematics to the natural science field, every natural science developed swiftly.These accomplishments have also brought supreme honor for mathematics conversely. The mathematics has a great change, from an independent discipline to the spokesman of human's reason and the model of science.Under this background, modern western philosophy has also being affected deeply by mathematics, and these impacts are embodied in philosophical thoughts of rationalists: Descartes and Spinoza.Descartes is a mathematician and scientist, and then a metaphysician and philosopher. His metaphysics originated from probing whether the objects of natural science exist or not, and why and how do they exist if they exist. To a great extent, the modes of thinking, the demonstration methods and the intrinsic characteristics of mathematics have affected Descartes'philosophical thoughts and the construction of his philosophical system.Mathematics has also produced far-reaching influence on another modern rationalist philosopher Spinoza, and this impact has been even more thorough and all-round than the impact on Descartes'. It has affected Spinoza's theory of substance, his viewpoint of truth, his ethics, and even his entire system. To a great extent, those impacts have made Spinoza think that the whole world, including the human's mind, is in strict necessity according to God's will.Generally speaking, mathematics has driven modern western philosophers to think about the ache of the world, has made the problem of the relationship between body and mind outstanding, and also let the thinking mode'reducing quality to quantity'and mechanical determinism penetrate into humanities. Of course, the deepest effect is that the mathematics has strengthened the essentialism mode of human thinking unceasingly, and has made it ingrained in human's thought, which is too difficult to pull out.Aimed at this appearance of the influence of mathematics on modern philosophy, both Kant and Hegel have made the deep reexamination. Although they hold the different attitudes to the mathematics, they both regarded that there are essential differences between mathematics and philosophy in the mode of thinking and the subjects of study, and both of them criticized the modern philosophers for applying mathematical method and mode of thinking to philosophy without rethinking its rationality.This essay thinks that because of the long historical cause and the academic environment at that time, mathematics has deeply affected the philosophy, especially the modern western philosophy. Essentially, this impact stems from the inherent identity between the natural tendency of human reason that runs after order, certainty, eternity and unity, and the ordered and self-evident form that belongs to numbers and mathematical demonstrations.No matter how the contemporary philosophers criticize the essentialism, and repel metaphysics, they have no way to change the natural disposition of human being.No matter how the physical world changes, the field of thought always tends to be ordered.