Descartes-Agonistes: Physico-mathematics, Method & Corpuscular-Mechanism 1618-33 (Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Book 27)

This book reconstructs key aspects of the early career of Descartes from 1618 to 1633; that is, up through the point of his composing his first system of natural philosophy, __Le Monde,__ in 1629-33. It focuses upon the overlapping and intertwined development of Descartes’ projects in physico-mathematics, analytical mathematics, universal method, and, finally, systematic corpuscular-mechanical natural philosophy. The concern is not simply with the conceptual and technical aspects of these projects; but, with Descartes’ agendas within them and his construction and presentation of his intellectual identity in relation to them. Descartes’ technical projects, agendas and senses of identity shifted over time, entangled and displayed great successes and deep failures, as he morphed from a mathematically competent, Jesuit trained graduate in neo-Scholastic Aristotelianism to aspiring prophet of a systematised corpuscular-mechanism, passing through stages of being a committed __physico-mathematicus__, advocate of a putative ‘universal mathematics’, and projector of a grand methodological dream. In all three dimensions—projects, agendas and identity concerns—the young Descartes struggled and contended, with himself and with real or virtual peers and competitors, hence the title ‘__Descartes-Agonistes__’. This book reconstructs key aspects of the early career of Descartes from 1618 to 1633; that is, up through the point of his composing his first system of natural philosophy, Le Monde, in 1629-33. It focuses upon the overlapping and intertwined development of Descartes’ projects in physico-mathematics, analytical mathematics, universal method, and, finally, systematic corpuscular-mechanical natural philosophy. The concern is not simply with the conceptual and technical aspects of these projects; but, with Descartes’ agendas within them and his construction and presentation of his intellectual identity in relation to them. Descartes’ technical projects, agendas and senses of identity shifted over time, entangled and displayed great successes and deep failures, as he morphed from a mathematically competent, Jesuit trained graduate in neo-Scholastic Aristotelianism to aspiring prophet of a systematised corpuscular-mechanism, passing through stages of being a committed physico-mathematicus , advocate of a putative ‘universal mathematics’, and projector of a grand methodological dream. In all three dimensions—projects, agendas and identity concerns—the young Descartes struggled and contended, with himself and with real or virtual peers and competitors, hence the title ‘ Descartes-Agonistes ’. Front Matter....Pages i-xix Introduction: Problems of Descartes and the Scientific Revolution....Pages 1-29 Conceptual and Historiographical Foundations—Natural Philosophy, Mixed Mathematics, Physico-mathematics, Method....Pages 31-98 ‘Recalled to Study’—Descartes, Physico-Mathematicus ....Pages 99-166 Descartes Opticien : The Optical Triumph of the 1620s....Pages 167-223 Analytical Mathematics, Universal Mathematics and Method: Descartes’ Identity and Agenda Entering the 1620s....Pages 225-264 Method and the Problem of the Historical Descartes....Pages 265-305 Universal Mathematics Interruptus : The Program of the Later Regulae and Its Collapse 1626–1628....Pages 307-348 Reinventing the Identity and Agenda: Descartes, Physico-Mathematical Philosopher of Nature 1629–1633....Pages 349-423 Reading Le Monde as Pedagogy and Fable....Pages 425-451 ‘Waterworld’: Descartes’ Vortical Celestial Mechanics and Cosmological Optics in Le Monde ....Pages 453-524 Le Monde as a System of Natural Philosophy and Gambit in the Field....Pages 525-541 Cosmography, Realist Copernicanism and Systematising Strategy in the Principia Philosophiae ....Pages 543-588 Conclusion: The Young and the Mature Descartes Agonistes ....Pages 589-601 Back Matter....Pages 603-631