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
Results 1-5 of 83
Page 10
... clear : we can know the existence of a substance without knowing its nature ; though some account of the thing known to exist is needed , the account at hand might be one that does not express its essence . Prima facie , this looks ...
... clear : we can know the existence of a substance without knowing its nature ; though some account of the thing known to exist is needed , the account at hand might be one that does not express its essence . Prima facie , this looks ...
Page 16
... clear and distinct intellectual apprehension . It is Descartes's view that the whole of human knowledge and understanding is based on intellectual foundations.21 This Cartesian intellectualism is compatible with assigning some role to ...
... clear and distinct intellectual apprehension . It is Descartes's view that the whole of human knowledge and understanding is based on intellectual foundations.21 This Cartesian intellectualism is compatible with assigning some role to ...
Page 17
... clear and distinct intellectual self - awareness . But their proper objects , ' pain and pleasure , light , colours , sounds , smells , tastes , heat , hardness and the other tactile qualities ' , are grasped clearly and distinctly by ...
... clear and distinct intellectual self - awareness . But their proper objects , ' pain and pleasure , light , colours , sounds , smells , tastes , heat , hardness and the other tactile qualities ' , are grasped clearly and distinctly by ...
Page 18
... clear and distinct grounds of all knowledge. The Cartesian way to knowledge starts with the unveiling of a world of essences which exists within the mind and which the intellect alone can perceive clearly and distinctly. This is so ...
... clear and distinct grounds of all knowledge. The Cartesian way to knowledge starts with the unveiling of a world of essences which exists within the mind and which the intellect alone can perceive clearly and distinctly. This is so ...
Page 19
... clear and distinct route of intellection and so grounds his awareness of the existence of a substance on the grasp of its essence he will not have 'true knowledge, since no act of awareness that can be rendered doubtful seems fit to be ...
... clear and distinct route of intellection and so grounds his awareness of the existence of a substance on the grasp of its essence he will not have 'true knowledge, since no act of awareness that can be rendered doubtful seems fit to be ...
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