By: René DESCARTES (1596 - 1650), translated by John VEITCH (1829 - 1894)
After several years working on a treatise
putting forth his mechanistic philosophy and physics, Descartes shelved
the project when his contemporary, Galileo, was charged with heresy.
That work, The World, was only published after Descartes’ death. It
seems that Descartes must have had this, in part at least, in mind when
writing his more famous philosophical works. This is especially clear in
the Meditations, not only in the obsequiousness of the Letter of
Dedication, but also in the specific mode of argument, which does not
seek merely to found science upon grounds acceptable to religious
authority, but to specifically found a mathematical science; one which
clearly privileges mathematical demonstrations even over common sense
judgments based upon everyday and constant experience. His
Copernicanism, put forth posthumously in The World, would require just
such a defense.
The Meditations are a central work of early modern philosophy, and play a crucial role in the conceptual development of basic perspectives and problems in the Western tradition, including substance dualism, external world skepticism, and the modern notion of the subject.
(Description by D.E. Wittkower)
The Meditations are a central work of early modern philosophy, and play a crucial role in the conceptual development of basic perspectives and problems in the Western tradition, including substance dualism, external world skepticism, and the modern notion of the subject.
(Description by D.E. Wittkower)
Genre(s): *Non-fiction, Philosophy
Language: English
Running Time: 3:29:09
Zip file size: 100.4MB
Catalog date: 2008-01-07
Read by: D.E. Wittkower
Book Coordinator: D.E. Wittkower
Meta Coordinator: Gesine
0 comments:
Post a Comment