Argument and Persuasion in Descartes' Meditations

Argument and Persuasion in Descartes' Meditations PDF Author: David Cunning
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199774471
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy has proven to be not only one of the canonical texts of Western philosophy, but also the site of a great deal of interpretive activity in scholarship on the history of early modern philosophy over the last two decades. David Cunning's monograph proposes a new interpretation, which is that from beginning to end the reasoning of the Meditations is the first-person reasoning of a thinker who starts from a confused non-Cartesian paradigm and moves slowly and awkwardly toward a grasp of just a few of the central theses of Descartes' system. The meditator of the Meditations is not a full-blown Cartesian at the start or middle or even the end of inquiry, and accordingly the Meditations is riddled with confusions throughout. Cunning argues that Descartes is trying to capture the kind of reasoning that a non-Cartesian would have to engage in to make the relevant epistemic progress, and that the Meditations rhetorically models that reasoning. He proposes that Descartes is reflecting on what happens in philosophical inquiry: we are unclear about something, we roam about using our existing concepts and intuitions, we abandon or revise some of these, and then eventually we come to see a result as clear that we did not see as clear before. Thus Cunning's fundamental insight is that Descartes is a teacher, and the reader a student. With that reading in mind, a significant number of the interpretive problems that arise in the Descartes literature dissolve when we make a distinction between the Cartesian and non-Cartesian elements of the Meditations, and a better understanding of surrounding texts is achieved as well. This important volume will be of great interest to scholars of early modern philosophy.

Argument and Persuasion in Descartes' Meditations

Argument and Persuasion in Descartes' Meditations PDF Author: David Cunning
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199774471
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Get Book Here

Book Description
Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy has proven to be not only one of the canonical texts of Western philosophy, but also the site of a great deal of interpretive activity in scholarship on the history of early modern philosophy over the last two decades. David Cunning's monograph proposes a new interpretation, which is that from beginning to end the reasoning of the Meditations is the first-person reasoning of a thinker who starts from a confused non-Cartesian paradigm and moves slowly and awkwardly toward a grasp of just a few of the central theses of Descartes' system. The meditator of the Meditations is not a full-blown Cartesian at the start or middle or even the end of inquiry, and accordingly the Meditations is riddled with confusions throughout. Cunning argues that Descartes is trying to capture the kind of reasoning that a non-Cartesian would have to engage in to make the relevant epistemic progress, and that the Meditations rhetorically models that reasoning. He proposes that Descartes is reflecting on what happens in philosophical inquiry: we are unclear about something, we roam about using our existing concepts and intuitions, we abandon or revise some of these, and then eventually we come to see a result as clear that we did not see as clear before. Thus Cunning's fundamental insight is that Descartes is a teacher, and the reader a student. With that reading in mind, a significant number of the interpretive problems that arise in the Descartes literature dissolve when we make a distinction between the Cartesian and non-Cartesian elements of the Meditations, and a better understanding of surrounding texts is achieved as well. This important volume will be of great interest to scholars of early modern philosophy.

Argument and Persuasion in Descartes' Meditations

Argument and Persuasion in Descartes' Meditations PDF Author: David Cunning
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780199866502
Category : First philosophy
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy' has proven to be not only one of the canonical texts of Western philosophy, but also the site of a great deal of interpretive activity in scholarship on the history of early modern philosophy over the last two decades. David Cunning's monograph proposes a new interpretation.

The Oxford Handbook of Descartes and Cartesianism

The Oxford Handbook of Descartes and Cartesianism PDF Author: Steven Nadler
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192517201
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 843

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Book Description
The Oxford Handbook of Descartes and Cartesianism comprises fifty specially written chapters on René Descartes (1596-1650) and Cartesianism, the dominant paradigm for philosophy and science in the seventeenth century, written by an international group of leading scholars of early modern philosophy. The first part focuses on the various aspects of Descartes's biography (including his background, intellectual contexts, writings, and correspondence) and philosophy, with chapters on his epistemology, method, metaphysics, physics, mathematics, moral philosophy, political thought, medical thought, and aesthetics. The chapters of the second part are devoted to the defense, development and modification of Descartes's ideas by later generations of Cartesian philosophers in France, the Netherlands, Italy, and elsewhere. The third and final part considers the opposition to Cartesian philosophy by other philosophers, as well as by civil, ecclesiastic, and academic authorities. This handbook provides an extensive overview of Cartesianism - its doctrines, its legacies and its fortunes - in the period based on the latest research.

The Cambridge Descartes Lexicon

The Cambridge Descartes Lexicon PDF Author: Lawrence Nolan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316380939
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 1642

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Book Description
The Cambridge Descartes Lexicon is the definitive reference source on René Descartes, 'the father of modern philosophy' and arguably among the most important philosophers of all time. Examining the full range of Descartes' achievements and legacy, it includes 256 in-depth entries that explain key concepts relating to his thought. Cumulatively they uncover interpretative disputes, trace his influences, and explain how his work was received by critics and developed by followers. There are entries on topics such as certainty, cogito ergo sum, doubt, dualism, free will, God, geometry, happiness, human being, knowledge, Meditations on First Philosophy, mind, passion, physics, and virtue, which are written by the largest and most distinguished team of Cartesian scholars ever assembled for a collaborative research project - 92 contributors from ten countries.

Transformation and the History of Philosophy

Transformation and the History of Philosophy PDF Author: G. Anthony Bruno
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100381249X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
From ancient conceptions of becoming a philosopher to modern discussions of psychedelic drugs, the concept of transformation plays a fascinating part in the history of philosophy. However, until now there has been no sustained exploration of the full extent of its role. Transformation and the History of Philosophy is an outstanding survey of the history, nature, and development of the idea of transformation, from the ancient period to the twentieth century. Comprising twenty-two specially commissioned chapters by an international team of contributors, the volume is divided into four clear parts: Philosophy as Transformative: Ancient China, Greece, India, and Rome Transformation Between the Human and the Divine: Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy Transformation After the Copernican Revolution: Post-Kantian Philosophy Treatises, Pregnancies, Psychedelics, and Epiphanies: Twentieth-Century Philosophy Each of these sections begins with an introduction by the editors. Transformation and the History of Philosophy is essential reading for students and researchers in the history of western and non-western philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, and aesthetics. It will also be extremely useful for those in related disciplines such as religion, sociology, and the history of ideas.

Reforming the Art of Living

Reforming the Art of Living PDF Author: Rico Vitz
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319052810
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Descartes’s concern with the proper method of belief formation is evident in the titles of his works—e.g., The Search after Truth, The Rules for the Direction of the Mind and The Discourse on Method of rightly conducting one’s reason and seeking the truth in the sciences. It is most apparent, however, in his famous discussions, both in the Meditations and in the Principles, of one particularly noteworthy source of our doxastic errors—namely, the misuse of one’s will. What is not widely recognized, let alone appreciated and understood, is the relationship between his concern with belief formation and his concern with virtue. In fact, few seem to realize that Descartes regards doxastic errors as moral errors and as sins both because such errors are intrinsically vicious and because they entail notably deleterious social consequences. Reforming the Art of Living seeks to rectify this rather common oversight in two ways. First, it aims to elucidate the nature of Descartes’s account of virtuous belief formation. Second, it aims both (i) to illuminate the social significance of Descartes’s philosophical program as it relates to the understanding and practice not of science, but of religion and (ii) to develop a kind of Leibnizian critique of this aspect of his program. More specifically, it aims to show that Descartes’s project is “dangerous,” insofar as it is subversive not only of traditional Christianity but also of other traditional forms of religion, both in theory and in practice.

Philosophic Classics: From Plato to Derrida

Philosophic Classics: From Plato to Derrida PDF Author: Forrest Baird
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351764519
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 1590

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Book Description
Philosophic Classics: From Plato to Derrida includes essential writings of the most important philosophers from almost two millennia of Western philosophy. In updating this Seventh Edition, editor Forrest E. Baird has continued to follow the same criteria established by the late-Walter Kaufmann when the Philosophic Classics series was first established: (1) to use complete works or, where more appropriate, complete sections of works (2) in clear translations (3) of texts central to each thinker’s philosophy or widely accepted as part of the "canon." To make the works more accessible to students, most footnotes treating textual matters (variant readings, etc.) have been omitted and important words from antiquity have been transliterated and put in angle brackets. In addition, each thinker is introduced by a brief essay composed of three sections: (1) biographical (a glimpse of the life), (2) philosophical (a résumé of the philosopher’s thought), and (3) bibliographical (suggestions for further reading). A timeline places important philosophers alongside other important thinkers, world leaders, and major global events. Photos and paintings with explanatory captions illuminate the ideas, debates, and places discussed in the text. New to the Seventh Edition: New translations: Plato, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo; Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics; Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus and Principal Doctrines; Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy; Anselm, Proslogion; Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man; René Descartes, Correspondence with Princess Elizabeth; Gottfried Leibniz, Monadology; Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract; Immanuel Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics and Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals Additional material: Porphyry’s Life of Plotinus (in part); Francis Bacon, Aphorisms (selections from Novum Organum); Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach; A.J. Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic (in part) Updated, annotated bibliographies with each bibliography now broken into two sections, one for beginning and another for advanced students.

Descartes

Descartes PDF Author: David Cunning
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351210513
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
René Descartes (1596–1650) is well-known for his introspective turn away from sensible bodies and toward non-sensory ideas of mind, body, and God. Such a turn is appropriate, Descartes supposes, but only once in the course of life, and only to arrive at a more accurate picture of reality that we then incorporate in everyday embodied life. In this clear and engaging book David Cunning introduces and examines the full range of Descartes’ philosophy. A central focus of the book is Descartes’ view that embodied human beings become more perfect to the degree that they move in the direction of finite approximations of independence, activity, immutability, and increased knowledge. Beginning with an introduction and a chapter on Descartes’ life and works, Cunning also addresses the following key topics: Descartes on the wonders of the material universe skepticism as epistemic garbage, and the easy dissolution of hyperbolic doubt Descartes’ three arguments for the existence of God the ontology of possibility and necessity freedom and embodiment arguments for the immateriality of mind sensible bodies and the pragmatic certainty by which to navigate them Descartes’ stoic view on how best to live. Descartes is an outstanding introduction to one of the greatest of Western philosophers. Including a chronology, suggestions for further reading, and a glossary of key terms, it is essential reading for anyone studying Descartes and the history of modern philosophy.

The Routledge Companion to Seventeenth Century Philosophy

The Routledge Companion to Seventeenth Century Philosophy PDF Author: Dan Kaufman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317676963
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 772

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Book Description
The Routledge Companion to Seventeenth Century Philosophy is an outstanding survey of one of the most important eras in the history of Western philosophy - one which witnessed philosophical, scientific, religious and social change on a massive scale. A team of twenty international contributors provide students and scholars of philosophy and related disciplines with a detailed and accessible guide to seventeenth century philosophy. The Companion is divided into seven parts: Historical Context Metaphysics Epistemology Mind and Language Moral and Political Philosophy Natural Philosophy and the Material World Philosophical Theology. Major topics and themes are explored and discussed, including the scholastic context that shaped philosophy of the period, free will, skepticism, logic, mind-body problems, consciousness, arguments for the existence of God, and the problem of evil. As such The Routledge Companion to Seventeenth Century Philosophy is essential reading for all students of the period, both in philosophy and related disciplines such as literature, history, politics, and religious studies.

Skepticism: From Antiquity to the Present

Skepticism: From Antiquity to the Present PDF Author: Diego Machuca
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472511492
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 763

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Book Description
Skepticism: From Antiquity to the Present is an authoritative and up-to-date survey of the entire history of skepticism. Divided chronologically into ancient, medieval, renaissance, modern, and contemporary periods, and featuring 50 specially-commissioned chapters from leading philosophers, this comprehensive volume is the first of its kind. By exploring each of the distinct traditions and providing expert insights, this extensive reference work: - covers major thinkers such as Sextus Empiricus, Cicero, Descartes, Hume, Spinoza, and Wittgenstein. - acknowledges the influence of ancient skeptical traditions on later philosophy and explains why it is still a fertile topic of inquiry among today's philosophers and historians of philosophy. - analyzes various forms of skepticism including Pyrrhonian, Academic, religious, moral, and neo-Pyrrhonian. - addresses issues in contemporary epistemology and indicates new directions of study. Skepticism, a driving force in the history of philosophy, remains at the center of debates in ethics, philosophy of religion, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. Skepticism: From Antiquity to the Present is an essential point of reference for any student, researcher, or practitioner of philosophy, presenting a systematic and historical survey of this core philosophical topic.