One who thought about deer as scent spread about (4,9)

I believe the answer is:

rene descartes

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'one who thought about deer as scent spread about' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.

'one who thought about deer as scent spread' is the wordplay.
'one who thought' becomes 'er' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'about' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'spread' indicates anagramming the letters.
'er' reversed gives 're'.
'deer'+'as'+'scent'='deerasscent'
'deerasscent' anagrammed gives 'nedescartes'.
're'+'nedescartes'='RENE DESCARTES'

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I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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