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|Historical Context=The mosaic of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries was based primarily on the works of Aristotle and some later Hellenistic natural philosophers, reconciled in various ways with Christian theology by scholars in the High Middle Ages. Its elements included Christian theology, humoral physiology, astrology, Ptolemaic astronomy, and Christian (Catholic, in many but not all communities contemporaneous with Descartes) theology.[[CiteRef::Haldane (1905)]] The Aristotelian-Scholastic tradition formed its centerpiece. Descartes was well educated in this tradition when he attended the prestigious Jesuit La Fleche College between the ages of ten and eighteen. The primary goal of Jesuit education was to renew Catholic Christian faith and to combat heresy. Descartes studied a traditional Scholastic curriculum of logic, grammar, philosophy, mathematics, and theology under Jesuit instruction. [[CiteRef::Gaukroger (1995)|p. 38-61]]
Descartes’ major writings are either contemporaneous with or shortly successive to periods came in a time of significant social and intellectual upheaval in Europe. He was a participant in the Thirty Years War before writing his major works and traveled extensively around Europe at a time when the continent was embroiled in both reformation and counter-reformation, both of which were a wellspring of new thought in theology and philosophy.[[CiteRef::Cottingham (1992)]] Philosophically, Descartes was immediately preceded by Bacon, whose contributions to epistemology helped to weaken the foundations of the Scholastic-Aristotelian mosaic.[[CiteRef::Rodis-Lewis (1992)]] Scientifically, a number of new advancements had been made in optics, astronomy, and physiology during or shortly prior to Descartes’ lifetime. Copernicus had challenged Aristotle's earth-centered cosmology in the previous century. Descartes commented on the trial of Galileo and was familiar with the works of Copernicus and Kepler.[[CiteRef::Hatfield (2016)]] Although Descartes was critical of Galileo’s methodology it is clear that he nevertheless had read and was familiar with his work, which was instrumental in weakening the various communities’ confidence in the salience of the Aristotelian mosaic.[[CiteRef::Ariew (1986)]]
Also notable is that Descartes’ most prominent teacher was the Calvinist natural philosopher Isaac Beeckman, whose work directly conflicted with the Aristotelian tradition by positing atomism and by rejecting plenism.[[CiteRef::Rodis-Lewis (1992)]] These and other factors place Descartes in a historical context rife with revolutionary change and immense scholarly interest in the changing landscape of academic inquiry.