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The Essential Descartes
In The Essential Descartes, the passion, precision, and deep humanity of this avant-garde 17th-century thinker are presented in a selection from his most profound writings, including his Discourse on Method, Meditations on First Philosophy, and Rules for the Direction of the Mind.
Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1969
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René Descartes
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Meditations on First Philosophy
(1641) and
Principles of Philosophy
(1644), main works of French mathematician and scientist René Descartes, considered the father of analytic geometry and the founder of modern rationalism, include the famous dictum "I think, therefore I am."
A set of two perpendicular lines in a plane or three in space intersect at an origin in Cartesian coordinate system. Cartesian coordinate, a member of the set of numbers, distances, locates a point in this system. Cartesian coordinates describe all points of a Cartesian plane.
From given sets, {X} and {Y}, one can construct Cartesian product, a set of all pairs of elements (x, y), such that x belongs to {X} and y belongs to {Y}.
Cartesian philosophers include Antoine Arnauld.
René Descartes, a writer, highly influenced society. People continue to study closely his writings and subsequently responded in the west. He of the key figures in the revolution also apparently influenced the named coordinate system, used in planes and algebra.
Descartes frequently sets his views apart from those of his predecessors. In the opening section of the Passions of the Soul , a treatise on the early version of now commonly called emotions, he goes so far to assert that he writes on his topic "as if no one had written on these matters before." Many elements in late Aristotelianism, the revived Stoicism of the 16th century, or earlier like Saint Augustine of Hippo provide precedents. Naturally, he differs from the schools on two major points: He rejects corporeal substance into matter and form and any appeal to divine or natural ends in explaining natural phenomena. In his theology, he insists on the absolute freedom of act of creation of God.
Baruch Spinoza and Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz later advocated Descartes, a major figure in 17th century Continent, and the empiricist school of thought, consisting of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume, opposed him. Leibniz and Descartes, all well versed like Spinoza, contributed greatly. Descartes, the crucial bridge with algebra, invented the coordinate system and calculus. Reflections of Descartes on mind and mechanism began the strain of western thought; much later, the invention of the electronic computer and the possibility of machine intelligence impelled this thought, which blossomed into the Turing test and related thought. His stated most in §7 of part I and in part IV of Discourse on the Method .
A set of two perpendicular lines in a plane or three in space intersect at an origin in Cartesian coordinate system. Cartesian coordinate, a member of the set of numbers, distances, locates a point in this system. Cartesian coordinates describe all points of a Cartesian plane.
From given sets, {X} and {Y}, one can construct Cartesian product, a set of all pairs of elements (x, y), such that x belongs to {X} and y belongs to {Y}.
Cartesian philosophers include Antoine Arnauld.
René Descartes, a writer, highly influenced society. People continue to study closely his writings and subsequently responded in the west. He of the key figures in the revolution also apparently influenced the named coordinate system, used in planes and algebra.
Descartes frequently sets his views apart from those of his predecessors. In the opening section of the Passions of the Soul , a treatise on the early version of now commonly called emotions, he goes so far to assert that he writes on his topic "as if no one had written on these matters before." Many elements in late Aristotelianism, the revived Stoicism of the 16th century, or earlier like Saint Augustine of Hippo provide precedents. Naturally, he differs from the schools on two major points: He rejects corporeal substance into matter and form and any appeal to divine or natural ends in explaining natural phenomena. In his theology, he insists on the absolute freedom of act of creation of God.
Baruch Spinoza and Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz later advocated Descartes, a major figure in 17th century Continent, and the empiricist school of thought, consisting of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume, opposed him. Leibniz and Descartes, all well versed like Spinoza, contributed greatly. Descartes, the crucial bridge with algebra, invented the coordinate system and calculus. Reflections of Descartes on mind and mechanism began the strain of western thought; much later, the invention of the electronic computer and the possibility of machine intelligence impelled this thought, which blossomed into the Turing test and related thought. His stated most in §7 of part I and in part IV of Discourse on the Method .
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 29, 2020
This book consists of:
Rules for the Direction of the Mind (Rules I-XIV)
Discourse on the Method
Meditations on First Philosophy
Objections and Replies (selections)
Principles of Philosophy (selections)
The Passions of the Soul (Part I)
Notes Against a Certain Program (Excerpt)
Correspondence with Elisabeth
I am unconvinced that Descartes regarded the mind/body split as real. He seems to want it both ways, mainly as a way of preserving the concept of the everlasting soul, which makes sense considering the times. He gets blamed for creating a paradigm that "science" has operated under every since, but I think a close reading of his work belies that, and I also think "science" hasn't operated under that particular paradigm for a very long time. Descartes is just a convenient foil for those with agendas that require the undermining of scientific thought, but it's based on a fiction.
His arguments for the existence of God are essentially arbitrary and basically just silly.
Worth reading if you want to see what all the fuss is about; and I definitely recommend reading the Objections and Replies as he expounds more on his ideas, and also in the letters to Elsabeth.
Rules for the Direction of the Mind (Rules I-XIV)
Discourse on the Method
Meditations on First Philosophy
Objections and Replies (selections)
Principles of Philosophy (selections)
The Passions of the Soul (Part I)
Notes Against a Certain Program (Excerpt)
Correspondence with Elisabeth
I am unconvinced that Descartes regarded the mind/body split as real. He seems to want it both ways, mainly as a way of preserving the concept of the everlasting soul, which makes sense considering the times. He gets blamed for creating a paradigm that "science" has operated under every since, but I think a close reading of his work belies that, and I also think "science" hasn't operated under that particular paradigm for a very long time. Descartes is just a convenient foil for those with agendas that require the undermining of scientific thought, but it's based on a fiction.
His arguments for the existence of God are essentially arbitrary and basically just silly.
Worth reading if you want to see what all the fuss is about; and I definitely recommend reading the Objections and Replies as he expounds more on his ideas, and also in the letters to Elsabeth.
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October 25, 2012Having studied and read René Descartes during my many years at University, I was curious to see how he was considered in a book that claims to be "essential" in terms of his life and work. Though I have studied him in greater depth, this is a decent effort to disseminate and discuss his overall philosophies and writings. From his early metaphysical reflections to his later epistemology, his fascinating ontology to his a priori trademark argument in the realm of theology, this book certainly gives you a starting point if you are inclined to look further into Descartes. I urge you to.
April 8, 2016
Some Very heavy reading. Be prepared to read the same line, or an entire page over many times. Its tricky, but well worth the time puzzling things out. Its laid out well, except of course where things are missing because he never finished the rules up. Its an intense read, and it will change your perspective on some things. Worth it, if you can get through it.
June 30, 2016
The introduction almost made me stop reading. Descartes... not too bad.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews