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 2
... nature of existence and its relation to essence, the reality of merely possible essences, and the Divine underpinnings of necessity in nature. When Descartes put forward his innovative doctrine of ideas, he cast it in the termi- nology ...
... nature of existence and its relation to essence, the reality of merely possible essences, and the Divine underpinnings of necessity in nature. When Descartes put forward his innovative doctrine of ideas, he cast it in the termi- nology ...
Page 7
... nature is prior to knowledge of its existence . In his replies to Johannes Caterus , the Scholastic author of the First Objections to the Meditations , he stated that ' according to the rules of true logic we must never ask whether ...
... nature is prior to knowledge of its existence . In his replies to Johannes Caterus , the Scholastic author of the First Objections to the Meditations , he stated that ' according to the rules of true logic we must never ask whether ...
Page 8
... nature or essential definition of a substance without knowing whether it exists and , conversely , whether one can know whether a substance exists without knowing its nature . Descartes , Aquinas , and the Late Scholastics shared an ...
... nature or essential definition of a substance without knowing whether it exists and , conversely , whether one can know whether a substance exists without knowing its nature . Descartes , Aquinas , and the Late Scholastics shared an ...
Page 10
... nature as does a definition , but perhaps some accident . We need not consider now the distinction between ' an account which explains the meaning of a name ' and other accounts . Aquinas's position is clear : we can know the existence ...
... nature as does a definition , but perhaps some accident . We need not consider now the distinction between ' an account which explains the meaning of a name ' and other accounts . Aquinas's position is clear : we can know the existence ...
Page 11
... natural things hidden from our senses', have been sensed 'through their effects'.10 Aquinas and the Jesuit Late ... nature of what does not exist because there are no possible but non-existent essences. The thesis that one cannot ...
... natural things hidden from our senses', have been sensed 'through their effects'.10 Aquinas and the Jesuit Late ... nature of what does not exist because there are no possible but non-existent essences. The thesis that one cannot ...
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