Learning from Six Philosophers: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, HumeVolume 2

by Jonathan Bennett

Overview

This illuminating work explores six great thinkers of the early modern period: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. While not neglecting the historical setting of each, its focus is on the words they wrote. As in all of Bennett's works, it addresses philosophy as philosophy, not as museum exhibit, and it offers a close and demanding attention to textual details. For newcomers to the early modern scene, this clearly written work is an excellent introduction, and for those already in the know, it provides tools to argue with the great philosophers of the past, treating them as colleagues, antagonists, students, and teachers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198250920
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/10/2001
Series:	Learning from Six Philosophers (2 Volumes)
Pages:	396
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Bennett, who now lives on an island near Vancouver, BC, was formerly Lecturer in Moral Science at the University of Cambridge, and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia and then at Syracuse University. He has held visiting positions at Cornell, Michigan,Pittsburgh, and Princeton, and has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and a visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He is Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the British Academy.

Table of Contents

Volume 11. Cartesian and Aristotelian Physics2. Matter and Space3. Descartes's Physics4. Descartes's Dualisms5. Descartes on Causation6. Preparing to Approach Spinoza7. One Extended Substance8. Explaining the Parallelism9. Explanatory Rationalism10. Spinoza on Belief and Error11. Desire in Descartes and Spinoza12. Leibniz Arrives at Monads13. Causation and Perception in Leibniz14. Leibniz's Physics15. Harmony16. Animals that Think17. Leibniz'a Contained-Predicate Doctrine18. Leibniz and Relations19. Descartes's Search for Security20. Descartes's Stability ProjectVolume 221. Lockean Ideas: Overview and Foundations22. Lockean Ideas: Some Details23. Knowledge of Necessity24. Descartes's Theory of Modality25. Secondary Qualities26. Locke on Essences27. Substance in Locke28. Berkeley against Materialism29. Berkeley's Use of Locke's Work30. Berkeley on Spirits31. Berkeleian Sensible Things32. Hume's 'Ideas'33. Hume and Belief34. Some Humean Doctrine about Relations35. Hume on Causation: Negative36. Hume on Causation: Positive37. Hume on the Existence of Bodies38. Reason39. Locke on Diachronic Identity-Judgements40. Hume and Leibniz on Personal IdentityBibliography, Index of Persons, Index of Topics

Editorial Reviews

"A noteworthy feature of the book . . . is the continuously powerful presence of an authorial self . . . This book will be widely read and discussed both for its virtues and, I trust, like the works it discusses, for its faults."

From the Publisher