Essays on Descartes' MeditationsAmélie Rorty The essays in this volume form a commentary on Descartes' Meditations. Following the sequence of the meditational stages, the authors analyze the function of each stage in transforming the reader, to realize his essential nature as a rational inquirer, capable of scientific, demonstrable knowledge of the world. There are essays on the genre of meditational writing, on the implications of the opening cathartic section of the book on Descartes' theory of perception and his use of skeptical arguments; essays on the theory of ideas and their role of Descartes' reconstructive analytic method; essays on the proofs for the existence of God, on the role of the will in the formation and malformation of judgments; and the essays on the foundations of the science of extension and on Descartes' account of the union of mind and body. |
Contents
Meditation in Descartes | 21 |
The Meditations | 45 |
The Scientific Background | 81 |
Descartes and the Metaphysics of Doubt | 117 |
Descartes and the Problem of Other Minds | 141 |
The Quest | 153 |
The Theory of Ideas | 177 |
The Second Meditation and the Essence | 199 |
Can I Be the Cause of My Idea of the World? | 339 |
The Idea of the True God in Descartes | 359 |
Confused and Obscure Ideas of Sense | 389 |
Will and the Theory of Judgment | 405 |
Mathematical | 435 |
The Status of Necessity and Impossibility | 459 |
All Things Which I Conceive | 473 |
Why Was Descartes a Foundationalist? | 491 |
Descartes | 223 |
Is There Radical Dissimulation in Descartes | 243 |
On the Complementarity of Meditations III | 271 |
The Essential Incoherence of Descartes | 297 |
Cartesian Passions and the Union of Mind | 513 |
Contributors 535 | |
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Common terms and phrases
affirm Anthony Kenny argue argument Aristotelian ascensional attributes beliefs body cartes Cartesian Cartesian circle causal cause chap chiliagon claim classical skepticism clear and distinct clearly and distinctly cogito cognitive faculties common sense conceive conception corporeal things deceiver Descartes says Descartes writes Discourse Discourse on Method distinct perception divine doctrine dream dreaming argument epistemological error essence eternal truths existence extension external false finite foundationalism geometry God's hypothesis ibid idea ideam images imagination infinite infinity innate ideas intellect interpretation intuition judgments knowledge Leibniz letter to Mersenne Margaret Wilson mathematical Mathesis Universalis Meditation III mental acts metaphysical mind mode motion nature objective reality omnipotent ontological argument passage passions perceive perfect Philosophy possible principle problem proof propositions question rational reason Replies represent res extensa role Scholastic Scholasticism Second Meditation sensation sensory skepticism soul substance suggest theory thinker Third Meditation thought tion true understanding