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. |
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Page ix
... present essay is com- plete as it stands and that that final part is in fact an independent project which will see the light in its own time. In writing this essay I have incurred many debts, too many to recall and properly acknowledge ...
... present essay is com- plete as it stands and that that final part is in fact an independent project which will see the light in its own time. In writing this essay I have incurred many debts, too many to recall and properly acknowledge ...
Page 3
... present. This book partakes of those assumptions; yet it is inspired also by Charles Taylor's remark that 'historical retrieval is . . . important' when we want to free ourselves from some 'picture', some forgotten and 'unquestion- able ...
... present. This book partakes of those assumptions; yet it is inspired also by Charles Taylor's remark that 'historical retrieval is . . . important' when we want to free ourselves from some 'picture', some forgotten and 'unquestion- able ...
Page 13
... presents an inquirer with a definite natural kind. None the less, if she is to succeed in determining an object for her inquiry, she must iden- tify the substance through a description that by and large succeeds in picking out members ...
... presents an inquirer with a definite natural kind. None the less, if she is to succeed in determining an object for her inquiry, she must iden- tify the substance through a description that by and large succeeds in picking out members ...
Page 19
... present the general outline of my affirmative answer. The essentialist order of the Meditations Let us, then, address this second aspect of Descartes's essentialism, that in actual practice he abided by the essentialist order. This in ...
... present the general outline of my affirmative answer. The essentialist order of the Meditations Let us, then, address this second aspect of Descartes's essentialism, that in actual practice he abided by the essentialist order. This in ...
Page 26
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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