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
Andrew Pyle (philosopher) Andrew Pyle (philosopher) Andrew Pyle (born 17 March 1955) is a British philosopher on the history of philosophical atomism. Pyle is currently a Reader in Early Modern Philosophy at the University of Bristol, where he also received his doctorate. His dissertation was titled "Atomism and its Critics: Democritus to Newton". Pyle also writes on the history of science and has given talks within the university on the nature of science historically. Pyle is one of the editors of the "Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy". In 2018, Bristol University held an all day conference honouring the thematic themes of Pyle's research