Wilson Ideas and Mechanism

Essays on Early Modern Philosophy
Core Textbook
ISBN: 978-1-4008-6498-0
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 546 Seiten

Reihe: Princeton Legacy Library

For more than three decades, Margaret Wilson's essays on early modern philosophy have influenced scholarly debate. Many are considered classics in the field and remain as important today as they were when they were first published. Until now, however, they have never been available in book form and some have been particularly difficult to find. This collection not only provides access to nearly all of Wilson's most significant work, but also demonstrates the continuity of her thought over time. These essays show that Wilson possesses a keen intelligence, coupled with a fearlessness in tackling the work of early modern philosophers as well as the writing of modern commentators. Many of the pieces collected here respond to philosophical issues of continuing importance.

The thirty-one essays gathered here deal with some of the best known early philosophers, including Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Spinoza, and Berkeley. As this collection shows, Wilson is a demanding critic. She repeatedly asks whether the philosophers' arguments were adequate to the problems they were trying to solve and whether these arguments remain compelling today. She is not afraid to engage in complex argument but, at the same time, her own writing remains clear and fresh. Ideas and Mechanism is an essential collection of work by one of the leading scholars of our era.

Originally published in 1999.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wilson, Margaret Dauler

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

Editions and Abbreviations

Ch. 1 Skepticism without Indubitability 3

Ch. 2 Descartes on Sense and "Resemblance" 10

Ch. 3 Descartes on the Perception of Primary Qualities 26

Ch. 4 Descartes on the Origin of Sensation 41

Ch. 5 Descartes on the Representationality of Sensation 69

Ch. 6 Descartes: The Epistemological Argument for Mind-Body Distinctness 84

Ch. 7 True and Immutable Natures 94

Ch. 8 Can I Be the Cause of My Idea of the World? (Descartes on the Infinite and Indefinite) 108

Ch. 9 Objects, Ideas, and "Minds": Comments on Spinoza's Theory of Mind 126

Ch. 10 Spinoza's Causal Axiom (Ethics I, Axiom 4) 141

Ch. 11 Infinite Understanding, Scientia Intuitiva, and Ethics I.16 166

Ch. 12 "For They Do Not Agree in Nature with Us": Spinoza on the Lower Animals 178

Ch. 13 Superadded Properties: The Limits of Mechanism in Locke 196

Ch. 14 Discussion: Superadded Properties: A Reply to M. R. Ayers 209

Ch. 15 Did Berkeley Completely Misunderstand the Basis of the Primary-Secondary Quality Distinction in Locke? 215

Ch. 16 Berkeley on the Mind-Dependence of Colors 229

Ch. 17 Berkeley and the Essence of the Corpuscularians 243

Ch. 18 The Issue of "Common Sensibles" in Berkeley's New Theory of Vision 257

Ch. 19 Kant and "The Dogmatic Idealism of Berkeley" 276

Ch. 20 The "Phenomenalisms" of Berkeley and Kant 294

Ch. 21 The "Phenomenalisms" of Leibniz and Berkeley 306

Ch. 22 Confused Ideas 322

Ch. 23 Confused vs. Distinct Perception in Leibniz: Consciousness, Representation, and God's Mind 336

Ch. 24 Leibniz and Locke on "First Truths" 353

Ch. 25 Leibniz: Self-Consciousness and Immortality in the Paris Notes and After 373

Ch. 26 Leibniz and Materialsm 388

Ch. 27 Possible Gods 407

Ch. 28 Leibniz's Dynamics and Contingency in Nature 421

Ch. 29 Compossibility and Law 442

Ch. 30 History of Philosophy in Philosophy Today; and the Case of the Sensible Qualities 455

Ch. 31 Animal Ideas 495

Sources and Acknowledgments 513

Index 515