ABSTRACT
Rene Descartes is sometimes credited with ushering in the modern age of philosophy and mathematics. In philosophy, he employed a method that required radical skepticism of the fundamental starting points of knowledge. This priority made epistemology a prerequisite for metaphysics. Descartes once said he wrote his Meditations in an autobiographical style to make it accessible to women. Maybe he succeeded too well, for Queen Christina not only understood his philosophical musings, but she saw his blunders as well. In every respect, she was magnific. Particles of snow drifted inside and settled on Descartes' books. The master never completely thawed. He came down with pneumonia, and seven days after his lesson with the Queen he first slipped into delirium, then on February 11, 1650, a coma from which he never emerged. The Meditations on First Philosophy is one of Descartes's most popular works.
