Descartes in Context

Essays

Emanuela Scribano (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

272 Seiten

2022
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
978-0-19-764955-8 (ISBN)

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This volume presents essays on Descartes by the pre-eminent Italian historian of philosophy Emanuela Scribano, here translated into English for the first time. Thematically cohesive in their focus on what Scribano calls the nerve centers of Cartesian philosophy, they examine Cartesian ideas in context, not only of Descartes' philosophical contemporaries. These include Scholastic thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and Suárez; Classical writers such as Galen; authors contemporary to Descartes, such as Campanella and Silhon; and philosophers who referred to Cartesian philosophy, such as La Forge and Malebranche. By considering their influence and contributions, it is possible to clarify some basic theses of Cartesian philosophy and to answer some long-debated questions in Descartes scholarship, pertaining to issues such as the proof of God's existence, the free creation of eternal truths, the hypothesis of divine deception, the limits of divine power, the theory of animals as machines, the theory of error, and the possible Cartesian origin of some central theses in Occasionalism.

The essays reflect Scribano's methodological approach: that to understand the intent, scope, and meaning of a philosophical theory, one must examine it with the eyes of those who share the author's philosophical culture. Scribano provides a newly written introduction, and the volume includes a foreword by Steven Nadler.

Emanuela Scribano previously held the positions of Full Professor of History of Philosophy at the University of Siena; Full Professor of Philosophy of Religion and of History of Philosophy at the University Ca' Foscari Venice. She is currently Emeritus Professor at the University Ca' Foscari Venice and has been a member of Accademia dei Lincei since 2021.

Table of Contents

Forword by Steven Nadler

Introduction

I. The idea of God
I.1 Descartes' Innatism as anti-Augustinianism
I.2 The Knowledge of God in Descartes' Letters

II. God and Human Mind
II.1 Divine Deception in Descartes' Meditations
II.2 The Replies to the Seventh Set of Objections, the Skeptic's Duties, and the Circle
II.3 What God Cannot do. Descartes and the Limits of Divine Power

III. Error
III.1 Descartes and False Ideas
III.2 Descartes on Dreamers, Madmen, and Amputees. A Physiological Reading of the Meditations

IV. Descartes and Free Thinkers
IV.1 Traces of the Atheist. From Lessius to Descartes via Vanini, Mersenne and Petit
IV.2 Animals and Clocks. Descartes against

Erscheinungsdatum	05.10.2022
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	240 x 162 mm
Gewicht	499 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Geschichte der Philosophie
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Philosophie der Neuzeit
ISBN-10	0-19-764955-6 / 0197649556
ISBN-13	978-0-19-764955-8 / 9780197649558
Zustand	Neuware