The Cambridge Companion to Early Modern Philosophy (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

The Cambridge Companion to Early Modern Philosophy is a comprehensive introduction to the central topics and changing shape of philosophical inquiry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It explores one of the most innovative periods in the history of Western philosophy, extending from Montaigne, Bacon and Descartes through Hume and Kant. During this period, philosophers initiated and responded to major intellectual developments in natural science, religion, and politics, transforming in the process concepts and doctrines inherited from ancient and medieval philosophy. In this Companion, leading specialists examine early modern treatments of the methodological and conceptual foundations of natural science, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, logic and language, moral and political philosophy, and theology. A final chapter looks forward to the philosophy of the Enlightenment. This will be an invaluable guide for all who are interested in the philosophical thought of the early modern period. "This book is a comprehensive introduction to the central topics and changing shape of philosophical inquiry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It explores one of the most innovative periods in the history of Western philosophy, extending from Montaigne, Bacon and Descartes through Hume and Kant. During this period, philosophers initiated and responded to major intellectual developments in natural science, religion, and politics, transforming in the process concepts and doctrines inherited from ancient and medieval philosophy. In this Companion, leading specialists examine early modern treatments of the methodological and conceptual foundations of natural science, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, logic and language, moral and political philosophy, and theology. A final chapter looks forward to the philosophy of the Enlightenment. This will be an invaluable guide for all who are interested in the philosophical thought of the early modern period."--Back cover Publisher description: The Cambridge Companion to Early Modern Philosophy is a comprehensive introduction to the central topics and changing shape of philosophical inquiry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It explores one of the most innovative periods in the history of Western philosophy, extending from Montaigne, Bacon and Descartes through Hume and Kant. During this period, philosophers initiated and responded to major intellectual developments in natural science, religion, and politics, transforming in the process concepts and doctrines inherited from ancient and medieval philosophy. In this Companion, leading specialists examine early modern treatments of the methodological and conceptual foundations of natural science, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, logic and language, moral and political philosophy, and theology. A final chapter looks forward to the philosophy of the Enlightenment Innovation and orthodoxy in early modern philosophy / Donald Rutherford Knowledge, evidence, and method / Stephen Gaukroger From natural philosophy to natural science / Dennis Des Chene Metaphysics / Nicholas Jolley The science of mind / Tad Schmaltz Language and logic / Michael Losonsky The passions and the good life / Susan James The foundations of morality : virtue, law, and obligation / Stephen Darwall Theories of the state / A. John Simmons Theology and the God of the philosophers / Thomas M. Lennon Scholastic schools and early modern philosophy / M.W.F. Stone Toward enlightenment : Kant and the sources of darkness / J.B. Schneewind. A comprehensive introduction to the central topics and changing shape of philosophical inquiry in the 17th and 18th centuries, this title explores one of the most innovative periods in the history of Western philosophy, extending from Montaigne, Bacon and Descartes through Hume and Kant

An exploration of one of the most innovative periods in the history of Western philosophy.

Edited By Donald Rutherford. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 365-400) And Index.