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
... essence was indeed one of the most widely and firmly established of Scholastic doctrines . An examination of this matter provides us with a valuable tool for the understanding of Descartes's thought and for the elucidation of its ...
... essence was indeed one of the most widely and firmly established of Scholastic doctrines . An examination of this matter provides us with a valuable tool for the understanding of Descartes's thought and for the elucidation of its ...
Page 8
... essence . In this he was followed by mainstream Scholasticism around Descartes's time . Pedro de Fonseca wrote in his Principles of Logic : ' first we show that a thing exists , next what it is ' ( ID , VII , 40 ; see also V , 8 ; II ...
... essence . In this he was followed by mainstream Scholasticism around Descartes's time . Pedro de Fonseca wrote in his Principles of Logic : ' first we show that a thing exists , next what it is ' ( ID , VII , 40 ; see also V , 8 ; II ...
Page 9
... essence . The exis- tentialist in turn affirms that , for any substance , if one knows its essence , then one must also know it exists . These two statements are compatible . It is not in virtue of them alone that essentialism and ...
... essence . The exis- tentialist in turn affirms that , for any substance , if one knows its essence , then one must also know it exists . These two statements are compatible . It is not in virtue of them alone that essentialism and ...
Page 10
... essence and properties , and then his views on knowledge and its sources . Finally , I examine the order actually followed by Descartes when acquiring knowledge of the essence and existence of the self , of God , and of material ...
... essence and properties , and then his views on knowledge and its sources . Finally , I examine the order actually followed by Descartes when acquiring knowledge of the essence and existence of the self , of God , and of material ...
Page 11
... essence in the absence of knowledge of existence. The essence in question must have been fashioned by the intellect. How, then, is it known that what has been made up by the mind is the essence of a possible substance? Neither for ...
... essence in the absence of knowledge of existence. The essence in question must have been fashioned by the intellect. How, then, is it known that what has been made up by the mind is the essence of a possible substance? Neither for ...
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