Cartesian Metaphysics: The Scholastic Origins of Modern Philosophy

by Jorge Secada

Overview

This is the first book-length study of Decartes' 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 skepticism, the theory of substance, and the dualism of mind and matter. His study offers a picture of Descartes' metaphysics that is both novel and philosophically illuminating.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521616140
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/02/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	348
Sales rank:	1,014,377
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 9.06(h) x 1.02(d)
Lexile:	1360L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

Part I. The Unity of Cartesian Metaphysics: 1. Descartes's essentialist metaphysics; 2. Scepticism, Scholasticism and the origins of Descartes's philosophy; 3. Cartesian real essences; Part II. Ideas and the Road from Essence to Existence: 4. Ideas and the world in mind; 5. My wax, my intellect and I; 6. Essentialism and the existence of God; Part III. Cartesian Substances: 7. The substantial tension; 8. The essence and the existence of Cartesian substances; 9. The real distinction or the body and the mind.

Editorial Reviews

"Secada skillfully examines Cartesian metaphysics in the context of the dominant Scholastic views regarding essentialism, theology, and sense experience...it would be a useful source for scholars..." Seventeeth-Century News

From the Publisher