The tree of knowledge or tree of philosophy is a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

presented by the French philosopher

René Descartes René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathe ...

in the preface to the French translation of his work ''

Principles of Philosophy ''Principles of Philosophy'' ( la, Principia Philosophiae) is a book by René Descartes. In essence, it is a synthesis of the '' Discourse on Method'' and '' Meditations on First Philosophy''.Guy Durandin, ''Les Principes de la Philosophie. Int ...

'' to describe the relations among the different parts of philosophy in the shape of a tree. He describes knowledge as a tree. The tree's roots are

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

, its trunk is

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rel ...

, and its branches are all other sciences the principal of which are medicine, mechanics and morals. This image is often assumed to show Descartes' break with the past and with the categorization of knowledge of the schools.

Description

Descartes is often regarded as the first thinker to emphasize the use of reason to develop the natural sciences. For him, philosophy was a thinking system that embodied all knowledge, as he related in a letter to a French translator:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tree of knowledge Concepts in epistemology Concepts in metaphysics Philosophical analogies René Descartes Trees in culture