The Oxford Handbook of Descartes and Cartesianism (Oxford Handbooks)

The Oxford Handbook of Descartes and Cartesianism comprises fifty specially written chapters on Rene 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. Copyright Page 2 Preface 4 Contributors 6 Abbreviations of Works by Descartes 15 I Descartes 16 Philosopher Defying the Philosophers: Descartes’s Life and Works 16 What Descartes Read: His Intellectual Background 41 Descartes on the Method of Analysis 86 Descartes’s Metaphysics 113 Mind and Psychology in Descartes 131 Descartes’s Mechanical but not Mechanistic Physics 151 Descartes’s Mathematics 166 Descartes and Medicine 188 Descartes on Freedom 213 Descartes and the Passions 229 Descartes and the Passions 246 Descartes’s Moral Philosophy 265 Descartes, Politics, and “True Human Beings” 280 The Compendium Musicae and Descartes’s Aesthetics 297 II The Cartesians 312 Mersenne: Questioning Descartes 312 Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia as a Cartesian 330 Claude Clerselier and the Development of Cartesianism 348 Louis de La Forge on Mind, Causality, and Union 366 “He Has Created a Schism in Philosophy”: The Cartesianism of Géraud de Cordemoy 381 Antoine Arnauld: Cartesian Philosopher? 395 The Ambiguities of Malebranche’s Cartesianism 411 The Prince of Cartesian Philosophers: Pierre-Sylvain Régis 429 Jacques Rohault and Cartesian Experimentalism 445 Robert Desgabets and the Supplement to Descartes’s Philosophy 462 The Early Dutch Reception of Cartesianism 479 The Curious Case of Henricus Regius 500 Geulincx and the Quod Nescis Principle: A Conservative Revolution 519 Johannes Clauberg and the Search for the Initium Philosophiae: The Recovery of (Cartesian) Metaphysics 536 What is Cartesianism?: Fontenelle and the Subsequent Construction of Cartesian Philosophy 554 Cartesianism in Britain 570 “Italy Did Not Want to Be Cartesian”: And For Good Reason 590 The Creation of Eternal Truths: Issues and Context 611 Cartesianism and Eucharistic Physics 630 Cartesianism and Feminism 649 III The Critics 666 Pascal and Port-Royal 666 Gassendi as Critic of Descartes 681 Optics, First Philosophy, and Natural Philosophy in Hobbes and Descartes 695 Henry More, Supporter and Opponent of Cartesianism 716 Cavendish vs. Descartes on Mechanism and Animal Souls 730 Spinoza, Descartes, and the “Stupid Cartesians” 748 Simon Foucher and Anti-Cartesian Skepticism 769 Locke on Cartesian Bodies and Cartesian Souls 783 Anne Conway’s Response to Cartesianism 801 Leibniz and Descartes 817 A Cartésien Manqué: Pierre Bayle and Cartesianism 836 The Condemnations of Cartesian Natural Philosophy 853 Pierre-Daniel Huet, Skeptic Critic of Cartesianism and Defender of Religion 882 Gabriel Daniel: Descartes Through the Mirror of Fiction 894 Physics and Metaphysics in Descartes and Newton 909 Index of Names 922 Index of Subjects 932 The,Oxford,Handbook,of,Descartes,and,Cartesianism,978–0–19–879690–9 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 Oxford Handbook of Descartes and Cartesianism comprises fifty specially written chapters on Rene 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, aetaphysics, 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 philosophers0in 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 This title comprises 50 specially written chapters on Ren e Descartes (1596-1650) and Cartesianism, the dominant paradigm for philosophy and science in the 17th 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 This title comprises 50 specially written chapters on René Descartes (1596-1650) and Cartesianism, the dominant paradigm for philosophy and science in the 17th 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 A collection of fifty essays on Descartes and his influence in the seventeenth century. The first section is devoted to various aspects of Descartes’s philosophy (biography, epistemology, metaphysics, natural philosophy (science), mathematics, philosophical theology, etc.). The second section is devoted to Descartes’s influence, especially Cartesians and the Cartesian movement, in France, the Netherlands, Italy, England and elsewhere. The third section is devoted to the critics and opponents of Descartes and Cartesianism. An illustrious team of scholars offer a rich survey of the thought of Rene Descartes; of the development of his ideas by those who followed in his footsteps; and of the reaction against Cartesianism. Epistemology, method, metaphysics, physics, mathematics, moral philosophy, political thought, medical thought, and aesthetics are all covered. An illustrious team of scholars offer a rich survey of the thought of René Descartes; of the development of his ideas by those who followed in his footsteps; and of the reaction against Cartesianism. Epistemology, method, metaphysics, physics, mathematics, moral philosophy, political thought, medical thought, and aesthetics are all covered.