The tree of knowledge or tree of philosophy is a metaphor presented by the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

philosopher René Descartes in the preface to the French translation of his work '' Principles of Philosophy'' 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, its trunk is physics, 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 science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

s. 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