Descartes

Erscheinungsjahr 1998
ISBN: 978-0-19-875182-3
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 334 Seiten, Format (B × H): 135 mm x 203 mm, Gewicht: 389 g

This latest volume in the Oxford Readings in Philosophy series brings together some of the most influential and stimulating essays on Descartes' philosophy to have appeared in the last fifty years, edited by the renowned Descartes specialist Professor John Cottingham. A lucid introduction by the editor outlines the principle features of Descartes' philosophy and summarizes the main arguments of each chapter. Covering the full range of Descartes' thought, the volume opens with a cluster of central issues in Descartes' metaphysics: systematic doubt, the Cogito, clarity and distinctness, and the Cartesian Circle; followed by chapters on Descartes' theory of the will, and his account of necessity and possibility. Two notorious and interrelated problems in Descartes' system are then dealt with: the distinction between mind and body, and the unity of the human being. There follow chapters on Descartes' account of human nature and the passions, and his treatment of animals; and the volume closes with three chapters on Cartesian science, covering Descartes' views on the relationship between experiment and deduction, his account of scientific explanation, and the notion of causal agency or force in his physics. These broad-ranging and accessible perspectives on Descartes' work will be essential reading for students and specialists.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Cottingham, John

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Metaphysik, Ontologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Philosophie des Geistes, Neurophilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Introduction

- I: Michael Williams: Descartes and the Metaphysics of Doubt

- II: Peter Markie: The Cogito and its Importance

- III: Alan Gewirth: Clearness and Distinctness in Descartes

- IV: James Van Cleve: Foundationalism, Epistemic Principles and the Cartesian Circle

- V: Anthony Kenny: Descartes on the Will

- VI: Jonathan Bennett: Descartes' Theory of Modality

- VII: Margaret Wilson: The Epistemological Argument for Mind-Body Distinctness

- VIII: Genevieve Rodis-Lewis: Descartes and the Unity of Human Being

- IX: Stephen Gaukroger: Descartes' Theory of the Passions

- X: John Cottingham: Descartes' Treatment of Animals

- XI: Daniel Garber: Descartes, Method and the Role of Experiment

- XII: Desmond Clarke: Descartes' Concept of Scientific Explanation

- XIII: Gary Hatfield: Force (God) in Descartes' Physics

- Notes on the Contributors

- Bibliography

- Table of Citations of Descartes' Works

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

John Cottingham was born in London and educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, and at St John's College, Oxford University, where he gained Double First Class Honours in Classics and Philosophy; he later took his doctorate in Philosophy at Oxford University. He has held posts at Exeter College, Oxford University and the University of Washington, Seattle, USA, and his visiting appointments have included a Fulbright Scholarship and Visiting Professorship at Randolph Macon Women's College, Virginia USA, and an Erskine Fellowship at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He is at present University Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading. Professor Cottingham is the author of numerous books and articles on seventeenth-century philosophy (with special reference to Descartes) and has given several broadcast talks on Descartes for the BBC; he has also written extensively on ethics and the philosophy of law.

He was from 1991-5 Chairman of the British Society for the History of Philosophy, and is (since 1993) editor of Ratio, the international journal of analytical philosophy.