Representation and Scepticism from Aquinas to Descartes

Erscheinungsjahr 2017
ISBN: 978-1-107-18162-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 302 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 571 g

In this book Han Thomas Adriaenssen offers the first comparative exploration of the sceptical reception of representationalism in medieval and early modern philosophy. Descartes is traditionally credited with inaugurating a new kind of scepticism by saying that the direct objects of perception are images in the mind, not external objects, but Adriaenssen shows that as early as the thirteenth century, critics had already found similar problems in Aquinas's theory of representation. He charts the attempts of philosophers in both periods to grapple with these problems, and shows how in order to address the challenges of scepticism and representation, modern philosophers in the wake of Descartes often breathed new life into old ideas, remoulding them in ways that we are just beginning to understand. His book will be valuable for historians interested in the medieval background to early modern thought, and to medievalists looking at continuity with the early modern period.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Adriaenssen, Han Thomas

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Erkenntnistheorie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Westliche Philosophie: Neuzeit
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Mittelalterliche & Scholastische Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; Part I. The Veil of Species: 1. Through species to the world. Aquinas and Henry of Ghent; 2. Perception without intermediaries. Olivi's critique of species; 3. Direct realism about perception and beyond. Auriol and Ockham; Part II. The Veil of Cartesian Ideas: 4. Transformations of Cartesianism. Malebranche and Arnauld; 5. Ideas and objects in Desgabets's radical Cartesianism; 6. The solid philosophy of John Sergeant; Part III. Representations and Scepticism: 7. From representation to object; 8. Criteriological problems; Conclusion.

Über Autor(innen)

Adriaenssen, Han Thomas
Han Thomas Adriaenssen is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands. He has published a number of journal articles on medieval and early modern philosophy.