Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy - Softcover

Descartes, Rene

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1537507257 ISBN 13: 9781537507255

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

Synopsis

Several of Descarte's most groundbreaking essays and treatises are contained in this superb, unabridged edition.

Written by René Descartes in the 17th century and counted among the first great philosophic works of Enlightenment era, these papers contain the philosopher's thoughts on the nature physical objects, presence and being. Descartes describes a series of vivid dreams which, for their realism, leave him in doubt as to whether he does indeed possess a body or whether it is merely an illusion.

Descartes reflects upon the nature of dreams, and wonders whether their strangeness is not a consequence of God playing a trick with his mind. Discounting God as the culprit, Descartes instead places responsibility of the illusion of reality at the feet of a 'malignant demon'.

The second meditation sees Descartes express doubt as to whether any of his theorising can be proven true. Can the mind be proven to be truly separate and distinct from the body, or is it actually true that the two are purposely interlinked and co-dependent?

Later meditations expound further on the themes of truth and the divine, and of the nature of the physical world around the human body. Descartes devotes further pages of explanation to the mind and the body, discussing his perception of each.

The translations present in this edition were composed by the Scottish poet and scholar of philosophy John Vietch, whose academic career at The University of St. Andrews in Fife provided a firm grounding in the philosophic disciplines.

About this title

Review

The new version of Cress's translation of Descartes's "Meditations" has attained an unusually high degree of readability . . . and, at the same time, of fidelity to the original. This combination . . . makes the work especially suitable for classroom use. --Roger Ariew, University of South Florida, and Marjorie Grene (1910-2009), Virginia Polytechnic Institute

An excellent edition and the price is fair. --Alan Soble, University of New Orleans

The new version of Cress's translation of Descartes's Meditations has attained an unusually high degree of readability . . . and, at the same time, of fidelity to the original. This combination . . . makes the work especially suitable for classroom use. --Roger Ariew, University of South Florida, and Marjorie Grene (1910-2009), Virginia Polytechnic Institute

An excellent edition and the price is fair. --Alan Soble, University of New Orleans

About the Author

RENE DESCARTES was born into a family of some means in the small French town of La Haye on March 31, 1596. With the death of his mother when Descartes was barely one year old, he was raised by grandparents until the age of ten when he entered the Jesuit school at La Fleche. At eighteen, Descartes enrolled in the University of Poitiers, where he earned a degree in law. Not long thereafter, while Descartes was serving in the military in the Netherlands he became acquainted with a mathematician and physicist by the name of Isaac Beeckman, who sparked his intellectual interest. A family legacy permitted Descartes to pursue these interests in relative comfort.
From 1619 to 1628, Descartes lived in Paris, but spent a good bit of time traveling throughout Europe. It was during this time that he focused his attention on formulating a rational method that could free scientific think-ing and philosophical discourse from the rampant skepticism that threatened to drown discussion of important metaphysical and epistemological questions in a sea of uncertainty. Descartes developed a method that he believed could serve the needs of science and philosophy equally well. His efforts to realize this goal have earned him the title of the father of modern philosophy.
In 1628, his travels ended, Descartes settled in the Netherlands, where he remained for the next twenty years. The last few months of his life were spent in Sweden, where he ventured in 1649 at the request of Queen Christina to instruct her in philosophy and to assist in the development of an institute for the advancement of science. While in Stockholm, Descartes came to the aid of the French ambassador, a friend who was suffering from pneumonia. Not long thereafter, Descartes contracted the disease and died on February 11, 1650.
Rene Descartes's works include: The World (1633), Essais (1637), Discourse on Method (1637), Meditations Concerning Primary Philosophy (1644), Treatise on the Passions (1648), and Rules for the Direction of the Mind (published posthumously in 1701).

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1537507257
• ISBN 13: 9781537507255
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 102