On the Ego and on God: Further Cartesian Questions (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)

In This Most Recent Of His Seminal Studies On Descartes, Jean-luc Marion Brings Together Essays On The Topics Of The Ego And Of God, Most Of Them Previously Unavailable In English. More Than Any Other Of Marion's Works, The Book Illustrates The Profound Connection Between His Phenomenological Concerns And His Writings On Descartes. Liberating God And The Self From The Constrictions Of Metaphysics Are Fundamental Tenets Of Marion's Theological And Phenomenological Work. This Book Highlights The Same Topics In The Philosophy Of Descartes. In Part I (on The Ego), Marion Explores The Alterity Of The Cartesian Ego, Arguing That It Is Not As Solitary As Has Often Been Assumed, And Shows How Descartes' Writings Themselves Are Framed By Dialogue. He Explicates The Status Of The Rule Of Truth In The Meditations, On The One Hand Highlighting How Descartes' Argument Is Not Circular, On The Other Hand Showing How Pascal Responds To And Alters Descartes. He Also Elucidates The Ambivalent Status Of The Concept Of Substance In Descartes By Returning To Its Roots In The Philosophy Of Suarez. In Part Ii (on God), Marion Returns To The Important Cartesian Thesis Of The Creation Of The Eternal Truths, Setting It In The Context Of The Claims Of Earlier Thinkers And Showing Its Demise In Philosophies Following Descartes. The Study Closes With A Careful Delineation Of The Concept Of Causa Sui And A Detailed Survey Of The Idea Of God In Seventeenth-century Thought. -- Publisher's Website. Pt. 1. Questions About The Ego -- 1. The Originary Otherness Of The Ego: A Rereading Of Descartes' Second Meditation -- 2. The Responsorial Status Of The Meditations -- 3. The General Rule Of Truth In The Third Meditation -- 4. Pascal And The General Rule Of Truth -- 5. Substance And Subsistence: Suarez And The Treatise On Substantia In The Principles Of Philosophy I, Section 51-section 54 -- Pt. 2. Questions About God -- 6. God, The Styx, And The Fates: The Letters To Mersenne Of 1630 -- 7. Creation Of The Eternal Truths: The Principle Of Reason -- Spinoza, Malebranche, Leibniz -- 8. The Causa Sai: First And Fourth Replies -- 9. Outline Of A History Of Definitions Of God In The Cartesian Epoch. Jean-luc Marion ; Translated By Christina M. Gschwandtner. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 193-273) And Index. Frontmatter Translator's Introduction (page xi) Preface to the French Edition (page xxvii) PART ONE: QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EGO 1. The Originary Otherness of the Ego: A Rereading of Descartes' Second Meditation (page 3) 2. The Responsorial Status of the Meditations (page 30) 3. The General Rule of Truth in the Third Meditation (page 42) 4. Pascal and the "General Rule" of Truth (page 63) 5. Substance and Subsistence: Suarez and the Treatise on Substantia in the Principles of Philosophy 1, 51-54 (page 80) PART TWO: QUESTIONS ABOUT GOD 6. God, the Styx, and the Fates: The Letters to Mersenne of 1630 (page 103) 7. Creation of the Eternal Truths: The Principle of Reason—Spinoza, Malebranche, Leibniz (page 116) 8. The Causa Sui: First and Fourth Replies (page 139) 9. Outline of a History of Definitions of God in the Cartesian Epoch (page 161) Notes (page 193) Index (page 275) Brings together essays on the topics of the ego and of God. This book illustrates the profound connection between the author's phenomenological concerns and his writings on Descartes. It highlights the topics - liberating god and the self from the constrictions of metaphysics - in the philosophy of Descartes