Download or read book Descartes An Intellectual Biography written by Stephen Gaukroger and published by Clarendon Press. This book was released on 1995-03-30 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: René Descartes (1596-1650) is the father of modern philosophy, and one of the greatest of all thinkers. This is the first intellectual biography of Descartes in English; it offers a fundamental reassessment of all aspects of his life and work. Stephen Gaukroger, a leading authority on Descartes, traces his intellectual development from childhood, showing the connections between his intellectual and personal life and placing these in the cultural context of seventeenth century Europe. Descartes' early work in mathematics and science produced ground breaking theories, methods, and tools still in use today. This book gives the first full account of how this work informed and influenced the later philosophical studies for which, above all, Descartes is renowned. Not only were philosophy and science intertwined in Descartes' life; so were philosophy and religion. The Church of Rome found Galileo guilty of heresy in 1633; two decades earlier, Copernicus' theories about the universe had been denounced as blasphemous. To avoid such accusations, Descartes clothed his views about the relation between God and humanity, and about the nature of the universe, in a philosophical garb acceptable to the Church. His most famous project was the exploration of the foundations of human knowledge, starting from the proof of one's own existence offered in the formula Cogito ergo sum, `I am thinking therefore I exist'. Stephen Gaukroger argues that this was not intended as an exercise in philosophical scepticism, but rather to provide Descartes' scientific theories, influenced as they were by Copernicus and Galileo, with metaphysical legitimation. This book offers for the first time a full understanding of how Descartes developed his revolutionary ideas. It will be welcomed by all readers interested in the origins of modern thought.
Download or read book Descartes A Biography written by Desmond M. Clarke and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-03-06 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: René Descartes is best remembered today for writing 'I think, therefore I am', but his main contribution to the history of ideas was his effort to construct a philosophy that would be sympathetic to the new sciences that emerged in the seventeenth century. To a great extent he was the midwife to the Scientific Revolution and a significant contributor to its key concepts. In four major publications, he fashioned a philosophical system that accommodated the needs of these new sciences and thereby earned the unrelenting hostility of both Catholic and Calvinist theologians, who relied on the scholastic philosophy that Descartes hoped to replace. His contemporaries claimed that his proofs of God's existence in the Meditations were so unsuccessful that he must have been a cryptic atheist and that his discussion of skepticism served merely to fan the flames of libertinism. This is the first biography in English that addresses the full range of Descartes' interest in theology, philosophy and the sciences and that traces his intellectual development through his entire career.
Download or read book The Philosopher the Priest and the Painter written by Steven M. Nadler and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique combination of philosophy, biography, and art history. The philospher, the priest, and the painter investigates the remarkable individuals and the circumstances behind a small portrait.
Download or read book Descartes written by A. C. Grayling and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2009-05-26 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientist, mathematician, traveler, soldier-and spy-Rene Descartes was one of the founders of the modern world. His life coincided with an extraordinary time in history: the first half of the miraculous seventeenth century, replete with genius in the arts and sciences, and wracked by civil and international conflicts across Europe. But at his birth in 1596 the world was still dominated by medieval beliefs in phenomena such as miracles and spontaneous generation. It was Descartes who identified the intellectual tools his peers needed to free themselves from the grip of religious authority and in doing so he founded modern philosophy. In this new biography, A. C. Grayling tells the story of Descartes' life, and places it in his tumultuous times-with the unexpected result that an entirely new aspect of the story comes to light.
Download or read book Cogito Ergo Sum written by Richard A. Watson and published by David R. Godine Publisher. This book was released on 2002 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was Descartes (1596-1650), says Watson (philosophy, Washington U., St. Louis), who established (or perhaps discovered) the rules of Reason, the foundation on which science and philosophy have been constructed since his time. He explores the life of the mathematician and philosopher, for readers who have no background in either field, but would l
Download or read book Cogito Ergo Sum written by Richard Watson and published by David R. Godine Publisher. This book was released on 2007 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rene Descartes was a highly influential philosopher, mathematician, and scientist and is regarded as the Father of modern philosophy and mathematics. This is the biography of Descartes, and it describes the life of Descartes, in the flesh and blood, rather than a technical analysis of his philosophical, scientific, and mathematical ideas.
Download or read book Descartes written by Geneviève Rodis-Lewis and published by Comstock Publishing Associates. This book was released on 1998 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Relatively compact biography of the seventeenth-century French philosopher is determined to reverse the slander of scandal in vogue among Descartes' recent biographers and to modify the view of his intellectual development.
Download or read book Descartes An Intellectual Biography written by Stephen Gaukroger and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1995-03-30 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Descartes is one of the greatest of all thinkers. Modern philosophy is generally taken to begin with him. His unique contribution to Western thought covers not only philosophy but also science and mathematics; his studies in mechanics and optics have provided modern science with tools still used and work still built on today. This is the first intellectual biography of Descartes in English. Stephen Gaukroger traces his intellectual development from childhood, establishes the connections between his intellectual and personal life, and placing these in the context of the cultural environment of the time, offers a fundamental reassessment of all aspects of his life and work. It is usually assumed that there is a little development in Descartes' thought, but this biography shows evidence of very significant changes of view and a general shift in his concern away from natural philosophy following the condemnation of Galileo by the Church in 1633. Starting with a full account of Descartes' early scientific work, Dr Gaukroger shows how it informed and influenced his later philosophical studies. On this new view, Descartes' philosophical work was meant not a self-contained exercise in epistemology and scepticism, but rather as a defence of his physical doctrines against a hostile Church. This book allows for the first time a full understanding of Descartes' ideas in the context of his life and times. It will be welcomed by all readers interested in the origins of modern thought.
Download or read book Descartes written by Geneviève Rodis-Lewis and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This major intellectual biography illuminates the personal and historical events of Descartes's life, from his birth and early years in France to his death in Sweden, his burial, and the fate of his remains. Concerned not only with historical events but also with the development of Descartes's personality, Rodis-Lewis speculates on the effect childhood impressions may have had on his philosophy and scientific theories. She considers in detail his friendships, particularly with Isaac Beeckman and Marin Mersenne. Primarily on the basis of his private correspondence, Rodis-Lewis gives a thorough and balanced discussion of his personality. The Descartes she depicts is by turns generous and unforgiving, arrogant and open-minded, loyal in his friendships but eager for the isolation his work required. Drawing on Descartes's writings and his public and private correspondence, she corrects the errors of earlier biographies and clarifies many obscure episodes in the philosopher's life.
Download or read book Descartes s Secret Notebook written by Amir D. Aczel and published by Crown. This book was released on 2006-10-10 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: René Descartes (1596–1650) is one of the towering and central figures in Western philosophy and mathematics. His apothegm “Cogito, ergo sum” marked the birth of the mind-body problem, while his creation of so-called Cartesian coordinates have made our physical and intellectual conquest of physical space possible. But Descartes had a mysterious and mystical side, as well. Almost certainly a member of the occult brotherhood of the Rosicrucians, he kept a secret notebook, now lost, most of which was written in code. After Descartes’s death, Gottfried Leibniz, inventor of calculus and one of the greatest mathematicians in history, moved to Paris in search of this notebook—and eventually found it in the possession of Claude Clerselier, a friend of Descartes. Leibniz called on Clerselier and was allowed to copy only a couple of pages—which, though written in code, he amazingly deciphered there on the spot. Leibniz’s hastily scribbled notes are all we have today of Descartes’s notebook, which has disappeared. Why did Descartes keep a secret notebook, and what were its contents? The answers to these questions lead Amir Aczel and the reader on an exciting, swashbuckling journey, and offer a fascinating look at one of the great figures of Western culture.
Download or read book Descartes s Theory of Mind written by Desmond M. Clarke and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2005 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Descartes is possibly the most famous of all writers on the mind, but his theory of mind has been almost universally misunderstood, because his philosophy has not been seen in the context of his scientific work. Desmond Clarke offers a radical and convincing rereading, undoing the received perception of Descartes as the chief defender of mind/body dualism. For Clarke, the key is to interpret his philosophical efforts as an attempt to reconcile his scientific pursuits with the theologically orthodox views of his time.
Download or read book Descartes A Very Short Introduction written by Tom Sorell and published by Oxford Paperbacks. This book was released on 2000-10-12 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: René Descartes (1596-1650) had a remarkably short working life, and his output was small, yet his contributions to philosophy and science have endured to the present day. He is perhaps best known for his statement 'Cogito, ergo sum'. By a mixture of 'intuition' and 'deduction' Descartes derived from the 'cogito' principle first the existence of a material world. But Descartes did not intend the metaphysics to stand apart from his scientific work, which included important investigations into physics, mathematics, psychology, and optics. In this book Tom Sorrell shows that Descartes was, above all, an advocate and practitioner of a new mathematical approach to physics, and that he developed his metaphysics to support his programme in the sciences. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book How To Read Descartes written by John G. Cottingham and published by Granta Books. This book was released on 2014-04-03 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'I realized it was necessary to demolish everything and start again right from the foundations, if I wanted to establish anything in the sciences that was stable and likely to last.' Ren Descartes Revered as the 'father of modern philosophy', Descartes is one of the most influential philosophers of all time, but his ideas are also highly controversial and have been subjected to intense criticism by present-day philosophers. John Cottingham examines Descartes's remarkable attempt to construct a new basis for scientific understanding, his famous first principle, 'I am thinking, therefore I exist,' and his notorious and often misunderstood account of the relation between mind and body. He also tackles fascinating and lesser-known aspects of Descartes's philosophy, including his views on language, human and animal nature, the role of the emotions in the good life, and the place of God in science and ethics. Extracts are taken from the whole range of Descartes's writings, including the Discourse on the Method, Meditations on First Philosophy, Principles of Philosophy and his last book, the Passions of the Soul, as well as extracts from his philosophical letters.
Download or read book The Young Descartes written by Harold J. Cook and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-03-28 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: René Descartes is best known as the man who coined the phrase “I think, therefore I am.” But though he is remembered most as a thinker, Descartes, the man, was no disembodied mind, theorizing at great remove from the worldly affairs and concerns of his time. Far from it. As a young nobleman, Descartes was a soldier and courtier who took part in some of the greatest events of his generation—a man who would not seem out of place in the pages of The Three Musketeers. In The Young Descartes, Harold J. Cook tells the story of a man who did not set out to become an author or philosopher—Descartes began publishing only after the age of forty. Rather, for years he traveled throughout Europe in diplomacy and at war. He was present at the opening events of the Thirty Years' War in Central Europe and Northern Italy, and was also later involved in struggles within France. Enduring exile, scandals, and courtly intrigue, on his journeys Descartes associated with many of the most innovative free thinkers and poets of his day, as well as great noblemen, noblewomen, and charismatic religious reformers. In his personal life, he expressed love for men as well as women and was accused of libertinism by his adversaries. These early years on the move, in touch with powerful people and great events, and his experiences with military engineering and philosophical materialism all shaped the thinker and philosopher Descartes became in exile, where he would begin to write and publish, with purpose. But though it is these writings that made ultimately made him famous, The Young Descartes shows that this story of his early life and the tumultuous times that molded him is sure to spark a reappraisal of his philosophy and legacy.
Download or read book Descartes Bones written by Russell Shorto and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2009-08-25 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sixteen years after René Descartes' death in Stockholm in 1650, a pious French ambassador exhumed the remains of the controversial philosopher to transport them back to Paris. Thus began a 350-year saga that saw Descartes' bones traverse a continent, passing between kings, philosophers, poets, and painters. But as Russell Shorto shows in this deeply engaging book, Descartes' bones also played a role in some of the most momentous episodes in history, which are also part of the philosopher's metaphorical remains: the birth of science, the rise of democracy, and the earliest debates between reason and faith. Descartes' Bones is a flesh-and-blood story about the battle between religion and rationalism that rages to this day. A New York Times Notable Book
Download or read book Discourse on the Method written by René Descartes and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Descartes' ideas not only changed the course of Western philosophy but also led to or transformed the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, physics and mathematics, political theory and ethics, psychoanalysis, and literature and the arts. This book reprints Descartes' major works, Discourse on Method and Meditations, and presents essays by leading scholars that explore his contributions in each of those fields and place his ideas in the context of his time and our own. There are chapters by David Weissman on metaphysics and psychoanalysis, John Post on epistemology, Lou Massa on physics and mathematics, William T. Bluhm on politics and ethics, and Thomas Pavel on literature and art. These essays are accompanied by others by David Weissman and by Stephen Toulmin that introduce the idea of intellectual lineages, discuss the period in which Descartes wrote, and reexamine the premises of his philosophy in light of contemporary philosophical, political, and social thinking.
Download or read book A Short History of Modern Philosophy written by Roger Scruton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-09-11 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Short History of Modern Philosophy is a lucid, challenging and up-to-date survey of the philosophers and philosophies from the founding father of modern philosophy, René Descartes, to the most important and famous philosopher of the twentieth century, Ludwig Wittgenstein. Roger Scruton has been widely praised for his success in making the history of modern philosophy cogent and intelligible to anyone wishing to understand this fascinating subject. In this new edition, he has responded to the explosion of interest in the history of philosophy by substantially rewriting the book, taking account of recent debates and scholarship.
