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 1
... essential definition; 'essentialism', on the other hand, names the view that knowledge of the essence of a substance is prior to knowledge of its existence. The articulation of these opposing doctrines as they appear in Descartes 1 ...
... essential definition; 'essentialism', on the other hand, names the view that knowledge of the essence of a substance is prior to knowledge of its existence. The articulation of these opposing doctrines as they appear in Descartes 1 ...
Page 2
... appear in Descartes and in his Scholastic contemporaries and predecessors, particularly Aquinas and Francisco Suárez, provides a framework from which to approach the Cartesian texts. As we shall see, Cartesian essentialism and ...
... appear in Descartes and in his Scholastic contemporaries and predecessors, particularly Aquinas and Francisco Suárez, provides a framework from which to approach the Cartesian texts. As we shall see, Cartesian essentialism and ...
Page 22
... appears untenable: one cannot know that an infinite and supremely perfect being is possible without thereby knowing that such a being exists. That granted, all the Cartesian arguments observe the essentialist dependence thesis: in the ...
... appears untenable: one cannot know that an infinite and supremely perfect being is possible without thereby knowing that such a being exists. That granted, all the Cartesian arguments observe the essentialist dependence thesis: in the ...
Page 32
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Page 36
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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 |
Other editions - View all
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