Descartes, René

The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Volume I)
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    		The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Volume I)
    Rene Descartes
    Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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    1. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Volume II)
    2. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Volume 3: The Correspondence (Paperback))
    3. The Cambridge Companion to Descartes (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)
    4. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
    5. Philosophical Essays

    ASIN: 052128807X

    Book Description

    These two volumes provide a completely new translation of the philosophical works of Descartes, based on the best available Latin and French texts. They are intended to replace the only reasonably comprehensive selection of his works in English, by Haldane and Ross, first published in 1911. All the works included in that edition are translated here, together with a number of additional texts crucial for an understanding of Cartesian philosophy, including important material from Descartes’ scientific writings. The result should meet the widespread demand for an accurate and authoritative edition of Descartes’ philosophical writings in clear and readable modern English.
    The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Volume II)
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      		The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Volume II)
      Rene Descartes
      Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      1. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Volume I)
      2. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Volume 3: The Correspondence (Paperback))
      3. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
      4. The Cambridge Companion to Descartes (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)
      5. Philosophical Essays

      ASIN: 0521288088

      Book Description

      These two volumes provide a completely new translation of the philosophical works of Descartes, based on the best available Latin and French texts. They are intended to replace the only reasonably comprehensive selection of his works in English, by Haldane and Ross, first published in 1911. All the works included in that edition are translated here, together with a number of additional texts crucial for an understanding of Cartesian philosophy, including important material from Descartes’ scientific writings. The result should meet the widespread demand for an accurate and authoritative edition of Descartes’ philosophical writings in clear and readable modern English.
      Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings
      Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
      • Descartes' Basic Writings
      		 Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings
      René Descartes
      Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      1. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
      2. Philosophical Essays
      3. A Treatise of Human Nature
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      5. A Spinoza Reader

      ASIN: 0521358124

      Book Description

      Based on the new and much acclaimed two volume Cambridge edition of The Philosophical Writings of Descartes by Cottingham, Stoothoff, and Murdoch, this anthology of essential texts contains the most important and widely studied of those writings, including the Discourse and Meditations and substantial extracts from the Regulae, Optics, Principles, Objections and Replies, Comments on a Broadsheet, and Passions of the Soul.

      Customer Reviews:

      4 out of 5 stars Descartes' Basic Writings.......2001-08-11

      This first volume in a two-volume set contains: (1) Rules for the Direction of our Native Intelligence, (2) Discourse on the Method, (3) Optics, (4) Meditations on First Philosophy (together with Objections and Replies), (5) Principles of Philosophy, (6) Comments on a Certain Broadsheet, and (7) The Passions of the Soul. The only book missing from this great volume is Descartes' Geometry, but given the breadth and depth of the current volume, such an omission is understandable.

      The translation is among the very best, with the consistent use of nouns and verbs and direct objects throughout the various texts. The book is accompanied by an excellent index, and an occasional note only when absolutely necessary. The text is allowed to speak for itself, and this it does with aplomb.

      My only regret is my copy is not printed on acid-free paper, and after a decade is already beginning to age prematurely. This one complaint aside, this volume is both well written and covers Descartes' best ideas. This particular volume belongs in all serious students' and collegiate libraries.
      A Guided Tour of Rene Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy with Complete Translations of the Meditations by Ronald Rubin
      Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
      • More than Descartes' text
      • Excellent Introduction To Philosophy
      		 A Guided Tour of Rene Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy with Complete Translations of the Meditations by Ronald Rubin
      Christopher Biffle
      Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
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      Binding: Paperback

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      5. A Guided Tour of John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism

      ASIN: 0767409752

      Book Description

      This accessible supplement makes Descartes’ text come alive for students by showing them how to read, think critically, and write about this key, classic work. Engaging interactive devices draw students into an intimate philosophical encounter that they can model in later work in philosophy.

      Customer Reviews:

      4 out of 5 stars More than Descartes' text.......2003-10-06

      I am the instructor of a college course in which we read Descartes' Meditations. I ordered this edition because I wanted to use the Rubin translation that also appears in the Perry/Bratman anthology Introduction to Philosophy 3rd ed., and because the bookstore could not obtain the Arete Press edition of Rubin's translation.

      For the purpose of a college course text I do not find this edition ideal. The commentary is much too intrusive and distracting. Moreover, this is *not* the same translation as found in Perry/Bratman! Instructors, beware.

      For the general reader looking for a guide, however, this might be useful ...

      5 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction To Philosophy.......1999-03-04

      This is probably the best introduction to philosophy that anyone could hope for. Descartes is not hard to read or comprehend but this particular book is unusually helpful to the newcomer. The author tries to give the reader a good idea of what philosophy is about and how to read philsophical works. There are detailed questions that instruct the reader on how to "think like Descartes" and to construct logically sound arguments based upon minimal assumptions. An excellent introduction to philosophy and to critical thinking.
      Meditations on First Philosophy: In Which the Existence of God and the Distinction of the Soul from the Body Are Demonstrated
      Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
      • The best introduction to modern philosophy in a reliable and cheap edition!
      • Classic of Modern Western Philosophy
      • The Father of Modern Rationalism Errs in Fundamental Ways
      • Good Translation, Interesting Book
      • Welcome to Modern Philosophy
      		 Meditations on First Philosophy: In Which the Existence of God and the Distinction of the Soul from the Body Are Demonstrated
      Rene Descartes
      Manufacturer: Hackett Publishing Company
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      ASIN: 0872201929

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars The best introduction to modern philosophy in a reliable and cheap edition!.......2005-09-01

      Descartes' meditations really is the place to start for thinking through the philosophical obsessions of the modern era -- the value of skepticism, the nature and extent of knowledge, the relation between mind and body, the role of theology in a rational account of the universe, subjectivity vs. objectivity, the primacy of the subject, freedom, etc.

      This is a book that can be read for these themes even by those who are encountering it for the first time without guidance. At the same time this is a book that rewards reading and rereading, not only in the sense that you should read it more than once but that you should come back to it again and again after you have read the other classical works of philosophy that both preceeded it and that it paved the way for. After a serious study of Kant, for example, you may find that you can come back to Descartes and see that much of the work of Kant's critical project was already prepared for in this little treatise. That is not to say that Kant is not original, but that part of Kant's genius is in thinking through and making explicit the scope of the philosophical landscape that was first mapped out in the Meditations.

      4 out of 5 stars Classic of Modern Western Philosophy.......2005-08-19

      Rene Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy is arguably the starting point for much of modern western philosophy. This short work comprises approximately 60 pages. Potential buyers should note that it does not include the "Objections and Replies" portion that is available in some other editions.

      Although there are many important and helpful philosophical works, Meditations is probably one of the few must read for students of philosophy. Cress' translation does a commendable job of allowing readers to interact with this significant historic text. In Meditations Descartes touches on many key philosophical questions, the role of scepticism, the existence of God and mind-body dualism. This short 17th Century text is by no means an exhaustive examination of these issues - its value is largely the historical context it provides. Its arguements have, however, held up remarkably well over time.

      Overall a true classic - I highly recommend it. This short book is a handy reference and good value. Some readers, however, may wish to consider purchasing Meditations as part of a broader collection.

      3 out of 5 stars The Father of Modern Rationalism Errs in Fundamental Ways.......2005-05-11

      Rene Descartes, a great mathematician, surely a creative genius in the field, used his prodigious intellect to answer some of the great questions like how do we know, what can we know, what is the difference between thinking and sensing, and many other questions following from these basic ones. However, in doing so, he painted himself and generations of philosophers into a philosophical corner from which he and others have been trying to extricate themselves for hundreds of years. This philosophical cul-de-sac, this "corner," is known as Dualism.

      Using the "method of doubt," Descartes concluded that there were two worlds, the world of mind and the world of the senses. The world of senses could be deceived, nay, easily deceived, whereas the world of mind could not be deceived because it was based on indubitable truths and understandings. These truths and understandings are indubitable because they are "clear and distinct" such as the fact that "I think." The thought "I think" is clear and distinct because it cannot be doubted as such. Whether I am deceived or not about what I perceive or think, there is always an "I" thinking. So even when in error there is an I...thinking.

      For Descartes, other ideas are clear and distinct in our minds because God puts them there. For example, the idea of a perfect, immutable, eternally existent God is clear and distinct because God Himself places the idea of him into our minds. Our own finite minds could not even conceive of this God, let alone conceive of Him in a clear and distinct way just because our minds are finite; thus we must have a clear and distinct understanding of Him because He places that thought in our minds.

      In sum, there are two worlds: an outside world which cannot be known clearly and distinctly, which is relegated to the realm of imperfection and confusion by the method of doubt, and an inside world (non-material) which can be known clearly and distinctly in two ways:
      (1)the thinking I is known by eliminating everything except the I through the method of doubt; and (2) God is known because He put the idea of Himself into my mind. Thus, "Dualism"arises.

      To write a full exposition of the problem of Dualism would, I think, require a lengthy treatise or monograph so I shall briefly list some of the problems with this theory at this point.
      A. The mind is often telling us to move towards or away from various experiences and places; likewise various bodily sensations will effect our thinking. Dualism thus does not account for the influence or interaction of mind on the body or vice-versa.
      B. Dualism does not really satisfactorily rule out that a body cannot think or that bodily motions are not thought. May it not be that body is implicated in some way in our thinking even though when I think or say "I think" I am not aware of that bodily involvement? Does the "I think" necessarily exclude the idea of extension? It's never demonstrated.
      C. Has the idea of God really come from God? Has He put it in our minds? Does not our conception of Him also depend upon our books, our friends, our institutions, etc.?
      Though an angel is more perfect than we, we might have an idea of an angel without the angel having caused it in us.
      D. If the idea of God comes into our minds from God, why is it that many peoples in the world do not have the idea of the Christian Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in their minds when they "think" of God?
      E. Why does an atheist agree about the existence of a triangle (which is understood for Descartes in an a priori sense just like the way we experience God), but not about the existence of God?
      F. Why cannot that which we perceive clearly and distinctly also be doubted? What can we ever embrace if clarity and distinctness are our criteria for knowing?
      G. Since the mind according to Descartes can only comprehend God in a manner that is "utterly inadequate," how can one "investigate with sufficient clarity and distinctness" what or who God is as Descartes proposes to do?"
      H. Why is it better to know of God's existence by a purely inferential criterion (He put the idea in my mind) rather than by the scholastic method of going back to a Cause of all existent things, the basic Prime Mover? Does not the scholastic method have the advantage of not being self-referent nor depending on a mere inference to justify God's existence?
      I. How does it follow from the fact that one is unaware that anything else belongs to one's essence that nothing else really belongs to one's essence?
      J. The mind is affirmed in Descartes by a process of negation of bodily knowledge. However, there is no real exposition of the mind's operations.
      K. Why is there no discussion of morals in the dualistic scheme proposed by Descartes? Is this not a serious omission?
      L. Why does the idea of an immutable, eternal God need a cause? The idea of a triangle is immutable and eternal, but does not need a cause.
      M. Descartes has described an insecure universe. Rationalism is king. In his version of the universe, mathe-matics is king, but empirical understandings are built on shifting sand, and are always untrustworthy. Descartes' God has created an almost unintelligible material world. Yet, this goes against both our observations and against the dependability of scientific conclusions.
      We observe a regularity of seasons and of day and night following each other, and many other regularities besides. Science observes and defines law-like operations in the material world that cannot be observed by the unaided eye; yet that knowledge produces remarkable and consistent results. Does not this suggest more certainty in empirical knowledge than Descartes would be prone to accept?

      N. Descartes' rationalism verges on solipsism because of the unreliability of shared, "outer" experience.

      With so many areas for possible objections, I think it would be fair to say that Descartes' Dualism is more problematic than helpful.

      3 out of 5 stars Good Translation, Interesting Book.......2005-02-04

      If you are a fan of Descartes, you'll definitely enjoy this book. It contains six meditations which bring reality and existance into question. The first meditation is excellent and will seriously make you question everything you know. However his arguments drop off from there. The big problem is that Descartes' arguments are cyclical (The Cartesian Circle) which not only negates his opinions but also makes it difficult to understand. I'd definitely recommend this book if you are interested in the history of philosophy or if you enjoy the rationalists.

      5 out of 5 stars Welcome to Modern Philosophy.......2004-05-01

      Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy is one of the few works of philosophy that absolutely every educated person needs to read at least once. This is required reading for anyone interested in philosophy or its history, and honestly I don't see how this work can be ignored by anyone interested in the history of ideas. It's also a work that I'd recommend to anyone who wants to be introduced to philosophy by reading the work of a great philosopher. And don't worry: it shouldn't take you more than an afternoon to read through it. But you can, of course, spend the remainder of your life thinking about the ideas contained in this work.

      The Meditations has had an incalculable influence on the history of subsequent philosophical thinking. Indeed, according to nearly every history of philosophy you're likely to come across, this work is where modern philosophy begins. It's not that any of Descartes's arguments are startlingly original--many of them have historical precedents--but that Descartes's work was compelling enough to initiate two research programs in philosophy, namely British empiricism and continental rationalism, and to place certain issues (e.g. the mind-body problem, the plausibility of and responses to skepticism, the ontological argument for the existence of God, etc.) on the philosophical agenda for a long time to come. Moreover, Descartes was capable of posing questions of great intrinsic interest in prose accessible to everyone. So the Meditations is a work of value to both newcomers to philosophy and to those with a great deal of philosophical background.

      The First Meditation is Descartes's implementation of his method of doubt. Descartes's aim here is to systematically doubt everything he believes that seems dubitable in any way and thereby to arrive at something that is absolutely certain and indubitable. Here Descartes formulates two very famous skeptical arguments: the dreaming argument and the evil demon argument. The dreaming arguments calls into question my current beliefs about the world by drawing attention to the possibility that I might be dreaming now. Can I know right now that I'm not dreaming? If not, doesn't it seem that I don't know much of anything? The evil demon argument is even more radical in that it focuses my attention on the possibility that almost my entire conception of reality is based on a very general delusion. What if my every experience and all my reasoning results from constant deception by some being with God-like powers? What, if anything, would I know if this were the case? These worries, Descartes thinks, allow him to doubt nearly all his beliefs, and it indeed they may preclude his having any certain knowledge at all.

      The rest of the Meditations is Descartes's attempt to find something he can know for certain. Famously, he begins by claiming that he can be certain of his own existence. Even if he's dreaming or being deceived by an all-powerful evil demon, he can be sure that he exists. For he couldn't dream or be deceived unless he existed.

      But even if he can be certain of his own existence, how can Descartes move beyond this to knowledge of a world outside his own mind? By appealing to the existence of God. He provides two distinct proofs for the existence of God: one a variant of the ontological argument, which attempts to prove God's existence from an appeal to the very concept of God, and one a type of cosmological argument, which attempts to prove God's existence by appealing to something whose only possible cause is God. Both these arguments, Descartes claims, prove that the world includes an absolutely perfect God. And it is the perfection of God that Descartes to be confident that he can know things beyond his own mind. For God, as a wholly perfect being, wouldn't provide Descartes with intellectual faculties that allow him to go wrong. Consequently, Descartes can be sure that his beliefs are generally correct, provided that he has used his intellectual faculties in the way God intended.

      This work also includes a statement of the sort of mind-body dualism with which Descartes is widely associated. Although his arguments for dualism are obscure here, it is fairly easy to explain the central idea. According to Descartes, mind and body are wholly distinct kinds of substance that interact with one another. Mental states aren't a part of the natural world revealed by the sciences, and so, for instance, they are not reducible to certain things going on in a brain. Instead, they're a wholly different type of thing--though a type of thing that is somehow causally connected to a brain.

      All of this is material, and a lot more, is covered in roughly sixty pages of text, and it is presented in some of the clearest, most straightforward philosophical prose ever written. Plus, the reader needn't have mastered any arcane jargon or previous work in philosophy to understand Descartes's views. And because it is written as a series of meditations in which Descartes leads us through something like his own process of through about these issues, it makes for relatively easy reading.

      This is a serviceable edition of the Meditations and the Discourse for students, and I'm sure it's perfect for the average reader. The translation is readable, and it doesn't seem significantly different from other translations of Descartes that I've read. While there aren't a lot of frills here, there's a very brief account of Descartes's life and a short bibliography. (For more serious students, I'd recommend Cottingham's edition of the Meditations that is published by Cambridge University Press. And Descartes enthusiasts should check out the second volume of the Cambridge Edition of the Philosophical Writings of Descartes, which includes Cottingham's translation of the Meditations along with the entire text of the objections and replies.)
      The Cambridge Companion to Descartes (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)
      Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
      • Very interesting reading
      		 The Cambridge Companion to Descartes (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

      Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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      ASIN: 0521366968

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      "Descartes is still rightly called the father of modern philosophy," John Cottingham explains in his introduction to The Cambridge Companion to Descartes, for "without Descartes's philosophy, the very shape of the problems with which we still wrestle, about knowledge and science, subjectivity and reality, matter and consciousness, would have been profoundly different." Thus it is not only the philosophy of Descartes that is illuminated by the 14 essays contained herein, but also the philosophical predicament of today.

      The contributors are among the most eminent scholars of Descartes's philosophy, including Cottingham, Roger Ariew, and Stephen Gaukroger (whose biography of Descartes should not be missed). Not all of the essays discuss Descartes's philosophy, however. Indeed, as Daniel Garber remarks, "in the seventeenth century Descartes was at very least equally well known for his mechanistic physics" as for any of his philosophical writings. The essays on his scientific work in algebra, psychology, and physiology are also fascinating. Still, at the heart of the Companion are the essays on Descartes's metaphysics. Peter Markie's careful discussion of the most famous sentence in philosophy--"cogito ergo sum"--is especially rewarding. Also worthwhile is Louis E. Loeb's thoughtful exploration of the Cartesian circle, which Descartes raises in his Meditations by arguing from God's existence to the trustworthiness of clear and distinct beliefs while also relying on the trustworthiness of such beliefs in order to prove that God exists. --Glenn Branch

      Book Description

      Descartes occupies a position of piviotal importance as one of the founding fathers of modern philosophy; he is, perhaps the most widely studied of all philosophers. In this authoritative collection an international team of leading scholars in Cartesian studies present the full range of Descartes' extraordinary philosophical achievement. His life and the development of his thought, as well as the intellectual background to and reception of his work are treated at length. At the core of the volume are a group of chapters on his metaphysics: the celebrated "Cogito" argument, the proofs of God's existence, the "Cartesian circle" and the dualistic theory of the mind and its relation to his theological and scientific views. Other chapters cover the philosophical implications of his work in algebra, his place in the 17th century scientific revolution, the structure of his physics, and his work on physiology and psychology.

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars Very interesting reading.......2000-04-01

      Many of the books about Descartes do not achieve the depth that this book reaches. The contributors, from considering the antecedents of the Cartesian thought, analyze the most algid points in Descartes' philosophy, such as the Cogito, the Cartesian circle and his physics; the contributors also show the influence of Descartes' work in the context of his own epoch and his legacy for later centuries. I am sure that the purchase of this book will grant the reader a deeper vision of modernity; it also will be useful in the understanding of many contemporary philosophal tendencies.
      Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, 4th Ed.
      Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
      • It is what it is...I recommend a book with more commentary for beginners
      • Rene Descarte
      • Readable translation of two seminal works of philosophy
      • Overly repetitious
      • Read for a second time
      		 Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, 4th Ed.
      Rene Descartes , and Donald Cress
      Manufacturer: Hackett Pub Co Inc
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      ASIN: 0872204200

      Customer Reviews:

      4 out of 5 stars It is what it is...I recommend a book with more commentary for beginners.......2007-05-29

      The bare translation...with little to no commentary. It's cheap, though.

      5 out of 5 stars Rene Descarte.......2007-03-27

      This is an excellent book with good reading and meditations to just sit back relax and enjoy.

      4 out of 5 stars Readable translation of two seminal works of philosophy.......2007-03-07

      This is a review of the Donald A. Cress translation of Discouse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes.

      Philosophers disagree about everything: except about the fact that modern philosophy begins with Descartes. No contemporary philosophers agree with Descartes' positive views. However, Descartes left Western philosophy with a series of puzzles that it continues to wrestle with: how is it possible to know anything? (Descartes' "dream argument" and "evil genius" argument are powerful sources of philosophical skepticism.) What is the relationship between mind and body? (Descartes argues that there is a fundamental metaphysical difference between the two, so they cannot be identical.) Is there some certain, indubitable foundation for knowledge? (Descartes thought that we need one to escape doubt, and that he could provide it.)

      Some historical context helps to explain certain features of his writing. In 1521, Martin Luther was excommunicated, beginning the Protestant Reformation and dividing Christianity. Luther encouraged Christians to read the Bible translated into their own languages (e.g., the King James Bible) and use their own individual judgment to interpret it. In 1543, on his deathbed, Copernicus published his book arguing that the sun was the center of the solar system, not the earth (as had been taught by Aristotle). In 1633, Galileo was forced by the Inquisition to renounce his defense of the Copernican hypothesis.

      Given the sharp intellectual controversies of his era, it is not surprising that Descartes says he has "realized how numerous were the false opinions that in my youth I had taken to be true, and thus how doubtful were all those that I had subsequently built upon them" (59). Descartes concludes that the only way to escape his doubts is to reconstruct his beliefs using his own reason, rather than relying on traditional views. In this respect, he is somewhat like Luther. However, mindful of what happened to Galileo, Descartes begins the Meditations with a letter to the Faculty of Sacred Theology in Paris, defending the orthodoxy of his views and pleading for their support. In addition, Descartes wrote the Discourse in French (his own vernacular), but wrote the Meditations in Latin (the language of the Church), "lest weaker minds be in a position to think that they too ought to set out on this path" that he has followed (51).

      If you are going to read only one work by Descartes, I recommend the Meditations. (However, you might want to quickly read Part 4 of the Discourse first, since it gives an overview of the whole Meditations.) In the Meditations, Descartes decides that, paradoxically, the only way to overcome his doubts is to doubt everything that can be doubted, until he finds something absolutely certain, upon which he can build up knowledge. (Descartes is therefore an epistemological foundationalist.) Descartes notes that his senses sometimes deceive him. Furthermore, for all he knows, he is merely dreaming right now that he has a body and is sitting in a room writing. It is hard to maintain such doubts, so Descartes resolves to pretend that an "evil genius, supremely powerful and clever," is attempting to deceive him at every step of the way. Descartes ends his First Meditation in this pit of uncertainty.

      In the Second Meditation, Descartes realizes that, even if he is mistaken about everything, he still has to think to be deceived, and if he thinks, then he exists. (In Part Four of the Discourse, he phrases this concisely as "I think, therefore I am.") Descartes then realizes that, while he can conceive of himself as a thinking thing without a body, he cannot conceive of himself as a body that never thinks. So while he may, in fact, have a body, his body and his mind are metaphysically distinct. (Basically, since he can conceive of body and mind as separate, therefore they are, in principle, separate.) Thus, Descartes is a metaphysical dualist.

      In the Third Meditation, Descartes argues that God exists. He gives a version of the ontological argument for the existence of God (defended before Descartes by St. Anselm, criticized after Descartes by Kant, and still later resurrected by Alvin Plantinga). Contemporary readers, even ones who believe in God, are unlikely to find Descartes' argument here compelling, but it is an important part of his philosophy. Descartes argues that, since we know that God exists, and since we know that God is all good, we can be sure that our senses and our reason are not fundamentally deceptive. (Why would an all-good God make us prone to systematic mistakes?)

      But the Third Meditation suggests a puzzle: since God created us, and God is all-good, why do we humans EVER make mistakes? Descartes' answer in the Fourth Meditation is that belief requires both the intellect, which simply perceives ideas, and the will, which chooses whether to believe those ideas. So long as we only choose to believe ideas that we "clearly and distinctly" (87) perceive, we will only believe what is true. Error occurs when we precipitately choose to believe unclear or confused ideas. (Part Two of the Discourse describes the methodology Descartes recommends in a bit more detail.) This may seem like a trivial claim, but Descartes is actually arguing for something controversial (and probably false): we can and should withhold belief from anything of which we are not absolutely certain, and so long as we use our minds correctly, we can be guaranteed to never believe anything false.

      The Fifth Meditation gives an alternative formulation of the ontological argument for the existence of God, and suggests that some ideas (such as those of mathematical objects) are innate, so that, "when I first discover them, it seems I am not so much learning something new as recalling something I knew beforehand" (88).

      Finally, in the Sixth Meditation, Descartes turns to material objects and sensory knowledge. His general conclusion is that "I must not rashly admit everything that I seem to derive from the senses; but neither, for that matter, should I call everything into doubt" (97). In general, Descartes is concerned in this meditation with how we can have a God-given faculty for discovering the truth, yet so often be in error over sensory matters (e.g., the Sun appearing to be the size of a fist).

      I do not read French or Latin myself, so I cannot comment on the accuracy of the translation. However, I will say that it is very readable. Furthermore, the selected bibliography is helpful. I do miss three things that were left out of this translation, though. First, Descartes meant for the Meditations to be read along with a series of "Objections" written by his correspondents and "Replies" he wrote in response. Second, perhaps the most insightful critic of Descartes was Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, who raised in correspondence what is still generally considered one of the strongest objections to Descartes' dualism: how can soul and body interact if they are as radically distinct as Descartes suggests? Finally, Descartes' Fourth Meditation emphasizes the distinction between having a property "formally" and "eminently." In Cress's original translation of the Meditations, he has a footnote explaining this distinction. That footnote was left out of this enlarged edition. If these three things were included in this translation, I think I would give it five stars instead of four.

      1 out of 5 stars Overly repetitious.......2006-12-06

      Descartes seems like the sort of guy who likes the sound of his own voice, not unlike a philosophy professor! He has only a handful of points, a few of them interesting but the majority pure academic fluff, and he spends over 100 pages just reiterating his ideas and logic behind them. It seemed like a modern editor would read the manuscript, and whittle it down to a maximum of 25 pages. I am not surprised that various classes on philosophy only use excerpts of Descartes' work.

      I would HIGHLY recommend instead buying an analysis of Descartes' works so that you can alternate back and forth between his original writings and commentary on these writings, as well as responses by other philosophers like Pascal.

      5 out of 5 stars Read for a second time.......2006-05-15

      One is supposed to advance one step or two already in the search after wisdom reading Descartes' work for once, but I am definitely willing to read all three of "Discourse on Method", "Meditations on the First Philosophy", and "The Principles of Philosophy" a second time at some point in the future to better understand more of his reasonings. If reading is really a species of conversation we hold with the authors, here I claim Descartes is someone nice to chat with. Still, I agree with Tom Griffith on that the foundations of modern science and technology are well laid, and we don't need to read Descartes to reassure ourselves of this - the reason for reading him today is that we miss one of life's great pleasures if we don't.
      Redefining Geometrical Exactness: Descartes' Transformation of the Early Modern Concept of Construction (Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences)
      Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
      • Don't read Descartes without it
      		 Redefining Geometrical Exactness: Descartes' Transformation of the Early Modern Concept of Construction (Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences)
      Henk J.M. Bos
      Manufacturer: Springer
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

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      ASIN: 0387950907

      Book Description

      In his "Géométrie" of 1637 Descartes achieved a monumental innovation of mathematical techniques by introducing what is now called analytic geometry. Yet the key question of the book was foundational rather than technical: When are geometrical objects known with such clarity and distinctness as befits the exact science of geometry? Classically, the answer was sought in procedures of geometrical construction, in particular by ruler and compass, but the introduction of new algebraic techniques made these procedures insufficient. In this detailed study, spanning essentially the period from the first printed edition of Pappus' "Collection" (1588, in Latin translation) and Descartes' death in 1650, Bos explores the current ideas about construction and geometrical exactness, noting that by the time Descartes entered the field the incursion of algebraic techniques, combined with an increasing uncertainty about the proper means of geometrical problem solving, had produced a certain impasse. He then analyses how Descartes transformed geometry by a redefinition of exactness and by a demarcation of geometry's proper subject and procedures in such a way as to incorporate the use of algebraic methods without destroying the true nature of geometry. Although mathematicians later essentially discarded Descartes' methodological convictions, his influence was profound and pervasive. Bos' insistence on the foundational aspects of the "Géométrie" provides new insights both in the genesis of Descartes' masterpiece and in its significance for the development of the conceptions of mathematical exactness.

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars Don't read Descartes without it.......2005-11-25

      This is the theme of the book: Euclid built up the whole Elements with just ruler and compass, but, as the Greeks knew perfectly well, for many problems it is necessary to allow higher curves or curve-tracing devices, or other suspicious tricks. This is very bothersome; we don't want things to get out of hand. What methods should be allowed in true geometry? The thoughts on these things before Descartes (comprising the first half of the book) were inconclusive and not terribly interesting. One does not regret that the subject is extinct. In fact, Descartes wrote: "through the dark confusion of this science I have seen some kind of light, and I believe that by its help I can dispel darkness however dense" (p. 232). But we cannot afford the luxury of forgetting all about these matters. Many great mathematicians clearly regarded it as an important issue, and it shaped their work. In particular--and this is the main point of the book--it is absolutely essential for a proper understanding of Descartes' Geometrie, which is in a sense a culmination of this whole tradition (and which of course many of us have tried to read for very different reasons). The high-point in this argument is chapter 19, where Bos argues that the catalyst for Descartes' breakthrough was his study of "Pappus' problem", where the harmony between geometric constructions and algebraic equations unfolds perfectly. This also beautifully closes the circle, since Pappus' Collection was the main ancient source for the whole discussion on geometrical exactness in the first place.
      The Geometry of Rene Descartes
      Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
      • has only limited historical value
      • Great book to work through
      • Enter Modern Mathematics
      		 The Geometry of Rene Descartes
      Rene Descartes
      Manufacturer: Dover Publications
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      Similar Items:
      1. The Works of Archimedes
      2. The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements, Books 1 and 2
      3. Euclid's Elements
      4. Greek Mathematical Thought and the Origin of Algebra
      5. The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

      ASIN: 0486600688

      Book Description

      The great work that founded analytical geometry. Included here is the original French text, Descartes' own diagrams, together with the definitive Smith-Latham translation. "The greatest single step ever made in the progress of the exact sciences." — John Stuart Mill.

      Customer Reviews:

      1 out of 5 stars has only limited historical value.......2007-06-08

      The problems discussed in this book are very remote from our
      present day geometry. The English translation uses a smaller font
      than the French original, which makes the book even harder to read.

      5 out of 5 stars Great book to work through.......2001-07-30

      This book contains a facsimile of the original version which runs nearly page for page with the English version. This is a true mathematical masterpiece. This was the supposed beginning of analytical Geometry(although it is now known that this was not true). It's a great book to work through that should be accessable to a high school student with some Geometry background. A Fantastic Book!

      4 out of 5 stars Enter Modern Mathematics.......2001-06-29

      Using the locii problems investigated by Apollonius, Descartes employs the rules of his "method" in this treatise on geometry. By approaching geometrical problems with algebraic processes and vice versa, he manages to create point coordinate geometry. This work drastically changed the way in which we view conic sections as well as the very process of analytic inquiry. The math is mostly straightforward and more familiar to the reader than the works of the ancient mathematicians. It is not neccesary to have studied much previous mathematical works to gain a basic comprehension of Descartes' solutions. Attempting at most times to maintain the simple and straighforward presentation advocated by his method, Descartes will give you most of the basics that you need to understand the rest of the work. However, close concentration must be paid for the math to mean anything. It is easy to skip a step in a proof and find yourself completely lost. Given the proper patience, this work is invaluable for anyone who wants to see the origins of our method of thought today. Fascinating both as a mathematical treatise and as a perfect trial run for anyone wanting to follow the cartesian method of learning.
      The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Volume 3: The Correspondence (Paperback))
      Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
      • Excellent source for Descartes otherwise unknown motives
      		 The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Volume 3: The Correspondence (Paperback))
      Rene Descartes
      Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      1. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Volume II)
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      5. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

      ASIN: 0521423503

      Book Description

      Volumes I and II provide a completely new translation of the philosophical work of Descartes, based on the best available Latin and French texts. Volume III contains 207 of Descartes' letters, over half of which have not previously been translated into English. It incorporates, in its entirety, Anthony Kenny's celebrated translation of selected philosophical letters first published in 1970. In conjunction with Volumes I and II it is designed to meet the widespread demand for a comprehensive, accurate and authoritative edition of Descartes' philosophical writings in clear and readable modern English.

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars Excellent source for Descartes otherwise unknown motives.......1999-07-22

      Descartes correspondence is key to understanding his texts. This source book brings to light otherwise untranslated letters from Descartes to his most trusted friends describing his fears and desires for his work. Kenny, as usual, does an excellent job!

      Philosophers:

      1. Dewey, John
      2. Diogenes Of Sinope
      3. Duns Scotus, John
      4. Eliade, Mircea
      5. Engels, Friedrich
      6. Epictetus
      7. Epicurus
      8. Erasmus, Desiderius
      9. Feyerabend, Paul K.
      10. Fichte, Johann Gottlieb

      Philosophers

      Philosophers