French philosophy for René Descartes' oeuvre. Modern philosophy began in France with the philosophy of René Descartes (1596–1650). His "Meditations on First Philosophy" changed the primary object of philosophical thought from ontology to epistemology and overcame the Aristotelian dogmatism inherited in philosophy from Scholasticism, the dominant form of thought in preceding centuries, while simultaneously raising some of the most fundamental problems for future generations of philosophers. René Descartes was concerned with the uncertainty in the sciences and the radical scepticism which spread across Europe when publications of Sextus Empiricus became available. Descartes desired to find indubitable ground on which all the sciences
Brian Davies (philosopher) Brian Davies (philosopher) Brian Evan Anthony Davies (born 1951) is a British philosopher. He is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University (since 1995), and author of "An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion", now in its third English edition, which has been translated into five languages. Brian Davies studied theology at the University of Bristol (BA 1972) and undertook graduate studies at King's College London (MTh, 1973; Tutorial Assistant, 1974–6; PhD, 1976). He spent the period 1982–95 at the University of Oxford. Throughout those years he was lecturer in Theology and Philosophy at Blackfriars, Oxford. Davies was also Tutor in