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Descartes' Meditations continues to the studied at all levels of the philosophy curriculum, from the introductory course to the graduate seminar. Descartes: An Analytical and Historical Introduction is addressed to students at all these levels. For the beginner, Professor Dicker provides historical ...

Descartes' Meditations continues to the studied at all levels of the philosophy curriculum, from the introductory course to the graduate seminar. Descartes: An Analytical and Historical Introduction is addressed to students at all these levels. For the beginner, Professor Dicker provides historical background and elicits from the text several basic issues of metaphysics and epistemology. Students of the history of modern philosophy will benefit from his balanced coverage of the main themes and arguments of the Meditations and several of the criticisms that they have evoked. To address still more advanced readers, he frequently discusses recent Descartes scholarship, and offers his own reflections on Cartesian doubt, the cogito, the causal and ontological proofs of God's existence, the Cartesian circle, Cartesian dualism, and Descartes' views about the material world. The book is written and organized in such a way as to be widely accessible, without unduly oversimplifying issues or sacrificing rigour. It includes and cross-references the full text of Meditations I, II, and V, and most of Meditations III and VI.

René Descartes (1596-1650) is the father of modern philosophy, and one of the greatest of all thinkers. This is the first intellectual biography of Descartes in English; it offers a fundamental reassessment of all aspects of his life and work. Stephen Gaukroger, a leading authority on Descartes ...

René Descartes (1596-1650) is the father of modern philosophy, and one of the greatest of all thinkers. This is the first intellectual biography of Descartes in English; it offers a fundamental reassessment of all aspects of his life and work. Stephen Gaukroger, a leading authority on Descartes, traces his intellectual development from childhood, showing the connections between his intellectual and personal life and placing these in the cultural context of seventeenth century Europe. Descartes' early work in mathematics and science produced ground breaking theories, methods, and tools still in use today. This book gives the first full account of how this work informed and influenced the later philosophical studies for which, above all, Descartes is renowned. Not only were philosophy and science intertwined in Descartes' life; so were philosophy and religion. The Church of Rome found Galileo guilty of heresy in 1633; two decades earlier, Copernicus' theories about the universe had been denounced as blasphemous. To avoid such accusations, Descartes clothed his views about the relation between God and humanity, and about the nature of the universe, in a philosophical garb acceptable to the Church. His most famous project was the exploration of the foundations of human knowledge, starting from the proof of one's own existence offered in the formula Cogito ergo sum, `I am thinking therefore I exist'. Stephen Gaukroger argues that this was not intended as an exercise in philosophical scepticism, but rather to provide Descartes' scientific theories, influenced as they were by Copernicus and Galileo, with metaphysical legitimation. This book offers for the first time a full understanding of how Descartes developed his revolutionary ideas. It will be welcomed by all readers interested in the origins of modern thought.

"This stunning work is without question a major contribution to Cartesian studies, to the field of early modern philosophy, and to general epistemology--original, provocative, and philosophically interesting. The writing is everywhere precise and elegant, but straightforward and conversational at ...

"This stunning work is without question a major contribution to Cartesian studies, to the field of early modern philosophy, and to general epistemology--original, provocative, and philosophically interesting. The writing is everywhere precise and elegant, but straightforward and conversational at the same time. It is a brilliant piece of philosophy, a masterful work of scholarship, and an engaging read--a trio not often encountered."--Edwin McCann, University of Southern California

"Broughton presents an impressive rethinking of how knowledge, certainty, and doubt figure in Descartes's "Meditations. The project is deeply thought out and extremely engaging. In many places the insights are simply startling. Perhaps her most important achievement lies in how well she manages to realize the ambition of many working in the history of philosophy to remain in dialogue with contemporary philosophy."--John Carriero, University of California, Los Angeles

"Given the extent and quality of the scholarly work that precedes it, Broughton's fresh, illuminating, and persuasive reading of Descartes's "Meditations" is a remarkable achievement."--Robert Fogelin, Dartmouth University