Descartes in the historical context

1 . absolute monarchy in Europe

2. counter-reformation

"There may indeed by men as judicious among the Persians or Chinese as among ourselves; but it seemed to me most useful to rule my life according to the views of those with whom I should have to live."

3. origin of modern science

Descartes's physics All bodies are extended, everything explicable in terms of size, shape, motion

He has
     laws of motion
     principles of conservation
     analysis motion in straight line
     analysis of collisions
He believes that all extended things move according to laws of motion.

Descartes's physiology
The body is a machine
     Consciousness belongs only to the soul

4. Lack of Interest in History

"I thought I had ... given enough time to languages, and likewise to reading the works of the ancients and their histories and fables... It is well to know something about the manners of different peoples... But a man who spends too much time travelling becomes a foreigner in his own country; and too much curiosity about the customs of past centuries goes as a rule with great ignorance of present customsŠ. The most faithful historians Š almost always leave out the meaner and less striking circumstances of the events; consequently the remainder has a false appearance, and those who govern their conduct by examples drawn from history are liable to fall into the extravagances of Š romance and conceive designs beyond their powers."
(Discourse on the Method, 1637)