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 12
... perception of a substance with that nature. The Scholastic philosophers we are discussing all held, with Descartes, that in order to know that F is the essence of a substance it is not enough to know that F is a possible property; one ...
... perception of a substance with that nature. The Scholastic philosophers we are discussing all held, with Descartes, that in order to know that F is the essence of a substance it is not enough to know that F is a possible property; one ...
Page 16
... perception . This has an effect on the responses to scepticism with regards to the senses which are open to a Scholastic philosopher . The Aristotelian thinkers with whom we are concerned were not ignorant of the fact that humans ...
... perception . This has an effect on the responses to scepticism with regards to the senses which are open to a Scholastic philosopher . The Aristotelian thinkers with whom we are concerned were not ignorant of the fact that humans ...
Page 17
... perception and that none of its content is properly sensorial . He credits the senses , as occasional causes , with ... perceptions to take place . The senses can play even this reduced part in the acquisition of knowledge only if ...
... perception and that none of its content is properly sensorial . He credits the senses , as occasional causes , with ... perceptions to take place . The senses can play even this reduced part in the acquisition of knowledge only if ...
Page 18
... perception, with which it can uncover the clear and distinct grounds of all knowledge. The Cartesian way to ... perception which the mind has of itself and of the natures which exist within it. The mind knows its own existence by a clear ...
... perception, with which it can uncover the clear and distinct grounds of all knowledge. The Cartesian way to ... perception which the mind has of itself and of the natures which exist within it. The mind knows its own existence by a clear ...
Page 20
... perception which he conceives to be the key to certain knowledge. He achieves these ends in parallel. After a first ... perceptions. This procedure clearly satisfies the essentialist independence thesis: at the start of the Sixth ...
... perception which he conceives to be the key to certain knowledge. He achieves these ends in parallel. After a first ... perceptions. This procedure clearly satisfies the essentialist independence thesis: at the start of the Sixth ...
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