How to Read Descartes
2008
First Published
4.18
Average Rating
112
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Revered as the "father of modern philosophy" Descartes is one of the most influential philosophers of all time, but his ideas are also highly controversial and have been subjected to intense criticism by present-day philosophers. John Cottingham examines Descartes’s remarkable attempt to construct a new basis for scientific understanding, his famous first principle "I am thinking, therefore I exist," and his notorious and often misunderstood account of the relation between mind and body. He also tackles fascinating and lesser-known aspects of Descartes’s philosophy, including his views on language, human and animal nature, the role of the emotions in the good life, and the place of God in science and ethics. Extracts are taken from the whole range of Descartes’s writings, including the Discourse on the Method, Meditations on First Philosophy, Principles of Philosophy, and his last book, Passions of the Soul, as well as extracts from his philosophical letters.
Avg Rating
4.18
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Author
John Cottingham
Author · 9 books
John Cottingham is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of Reading. Professor of Philosophy of Religion, University of Roehampton, London. Visiting Professor, King’s College London. Honorary Fellow, St John’s College, Oxford University. John Cottingham has published over thirty books – fifteen as sole author, a further nine editions and translations, plus (either as single or joint editor) eight edited collections – together with over 140 articles in learned journals or books. From 1993-2012 he was Editor of Ratio, the international journal of analytic philosophy.
