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
... arguments and the spirit in which they were conceived and deployed and about the influences to which he was subject and the influence which he exercised upon his con- temporaries and successors. There is, of course, no shortage of ...
... arguments and the spirit in which they were conceived and deployed and about the influences to which he was subject and the influence which he exercised upon his con- temporaries and successors. There is, of course, no shortage of ...
Page 16
... arguments in the Meditations served him ' partly to prepare my readers ' minds for the consideration of the things of the intellect ... and partly ... to show the firmness of the truths which I propound ' ( AT , VII , 171–2 ) . These ...
... arguments in the Meditations served him ' partly to prepare my readers ' minds for the consideration of the things of the intellect ... and partly ... to show the firmness of the truths which I propound ' ( AT , VII , 171–2 ) . These ...
Page 17
... argument which depends solely on what is clearly and distinctly perceived by the intellect . It is from the ... arguments, the intellect validates itself and Descartes's essentialist metaphysics 17.
... argument which depends solely on what is clearly and distinctly perceived by the intellect . It is from the ... arguments, the intellect validates itself and Descartes's essentialist metaphysics 17.
Page 18
... Arguments ... arranged in a geometri- cal fashion' appended at the end of the Second Replies. Here Descartes does not ... argument that involves the intellectual apprehension of the essence of matter. Hence, unless an inquirer 18 18 The ...
... Arguments ... arranged in a geometri- cal fashion' appended at the end of the Second Replies. Here Descartes does not ... argument that involves the intellectual apprehension of the essence of matter. Hence, unless an inquirer 18 18 The ...
Page 19
... for the idea that Descartes's arguments were designed to observe the essentialist order. The matter before us concerns knowledge of the existence of 19 Descartes's essentialist metaphysics 19 The essentialist order of the Meditations.
... for the idea that Descartes's arguments were designed to observe the essentialist order. The matter before us concerns knowledge of the existence of 19 Descartes's essentialist metaphysics 19 The essentialist order of the Meditations.
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