Cartesian Metaphysics: The Scholastic Origins of Modern PhilosophyThis is the first book-length study of Descartes's metaphysics to place it in its immediate historical context, the Late Scholastic philosophy of thinkers such as Suárez against which Descartes reacted. Jorge Secada views Cartesian philosophy as an 'essentialist' reply to the 'existentialism' of the School, and his discussion includes careful analyses and original interpretations of such central Cartesian themes as the role of scepticism, intentionality and the doctrine of the material falsity of ideas, universals and the relation between sense and understanding, causation and the proofs of the existence of God, the theory of substance, and the dualism of mind and matter. His study offers a picture of Descartes's metaphysics that is both novel and philosophically illuminating. |
From inside the book
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Page 7
... according to the rules of true logic we must never ask whether something exists [ an_est ] unless we already know what it is [ quid est ] ' ( AT , VII , 107-8 ) . The same year he wrote to Father Marin Mersenne deprecating theologians ...
... according to the rules of true logic we must never ask whether something exists [ an_est ] unless we already know what it is [ quid est ] ' ( AT , VII , 107-8 ) . The same year he wrote to Father Marin Mersenne deprecating theologians ...
Page 14
... According to Descartes, the true attribu- tion of any accident or mode to a substance entails its essential definition, and more to the point, if someone knows the existence of a substance described through its intrinsic properties ...
... According to Descartes, the true attribu- tion of any accident or mode to a substance entails its essential definition, and more to the point, if someone knows the existence of a substance described through its intrinsic properties ...
Page 22
... According to Descartes there is a sense in which He indeed is, for it is only once we know that there is a true God that we can be certain of anything else (see AT, VII, 36). For St Thomas, on the other hand, 'we arrive at a knowl- edge ...
... According to Descartes there is a sense in which He indeed is, for it is only once we know that there is a true God that we can be certain of anything else (see AT, VII, 36). For St Thomas, on the other hand, 'we arrive at a knowl- edge ...
Page 23
... According to Aquinas, 'what is first known by the human intellect is [something external, namely, the nature of material things]; then, in the second place, the act by which [this] is known is itself known; and finally, by means of the ...
... According to Aquinas, 'what is first known by the human intellect is [something external, namely, the nature of material things]; then, in the second place, the act by which [this] is known is itself known; and finally, by means of the ...
Page 24
... According to Suárez the essence of the soul is not known even after careful examination, let alone simple self-consciousness. For Descartes, on the con- trary, self-awareness reveals not only the existence of the soul but also its ...
... According to Suárez the essence of the soul is not known even after careful examination, let alone simple self-consciousness. For Descartes, on the con- trary, self-awareness reveals not only the existence of the soul but also its ...
Contents
1 | |
5 | |
Part II Ideas and the road from essence to existence | 75 |
Part III Cartesian substances | 181 |
Epilogue | 265 |
Notes | 270 |
References | 307 |
Index | 323 |
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Cartesian Metaphysics: The Scholastic Origins of Modern Philosophy Jorge Secada Limited preview - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
According to Descartes actual apprehension Aquinas argued Aristotelian Aristotle Arnauld attribute awareness body Cartesian causal chapter claim clear and distinct clearly and distinctly colour conceived conception corporeal substance creatures dependence Descartes's determinable direct realist distinguished divine doctrine Duns Scotus effect efficient cause entity essence and existence essential definitions essentialist exist in reality existentialism existentialist explained extension external fact follows Fonseca formally Gassendi God’s grasp Hobbes human idea imagination immediate objects independent individual infinite infinite regress innate intellect intelligible Jesuit judgement knowledge Late Scholastic Leibniz matter metaphysics mind modes nature Nominalists notion objective reality ontological argument perceive philosophy possible Posterior Analytics predicate principle prior proof question real distinction real essences real properties refer relation Replies sceptical Scholasticism Second Meditation sensation sense sensory perception shape soul species St Thomas Suárez substantial suppose Third Meditation Thomist thought triangle true truth understanding unity universal