The Oxford Handbook of Descartes and Cartesianism

by Steven Nadler, Tad M. Schmaltz, Delphine Antoine-Mahut

Overview

The Oxford Handbook of Descartes and Cartesianism comprises fifty specially written chapters on Rene Descartes (1596-1650) and Cartesianism, the dominant paradigm for philosophy and science in the seventeenth century, written by an international group of leading scholars of early modern philosophy. The first part focuses on the various aspects of Descartes's biography (including his background, intellectual contexts, writings, and correspondence) and philosophy, with chapters on his epistemology, method, metaphysics, physics, mathematics, moral philosophy, political thought, medical thought, and aesthetics. The chapters of the second part are devoted to the defense, development and modification of Descartes's ideas by later generations of Cartesian philosophers in France, the Netherlands, Italy, and elsewhere. The third and final part considers the opposition to Cartesian philosophy by other philosophers, as well as by civil, ecclesiastic, and academic authorities. This handbook provides an extensive overview of Cartesianism - its doctrines, its legacies and its fortunes - in the period based on the latest research.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198796909
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/25/2019
Series:	Oxford Handbooks
Pages:	844
Product dimensions:	9.80(w) x 6.70(h) x 2.00(d)

About the Author

Steven Nadler, William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy and Evjue-Bascom Professor in Humanities, University of Wisconsin-Madison,Tad M. Schmaltz, Professor of Philosophy, University of Michigan,Delphine Antoine-Mahut, Professor of Philosophy, ENS Lyon

Steven Nadler is the William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy, Evjue-Bascom Professor in Humanities, and Weinstein-Bascom Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has been teaching since 1988. He has been the editor of the Journal of the History of Philosophy, and President of the Central Division of the American Philosophical Association. Nadler previous publications include A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza's Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age (Princeton, 2011), The Philosopher, the Priest and the Painter: A Portrait of Descartes (Princeton, 2013), Spinoza: A Life (Cambridge, 1999/2018, winner of the Koret Jewish Book Award), Rembrandt's Jews (Chicago, 2003, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), Menasseh ben Israel: Rabbi of Amsterdam (Yale, 2018), and the graphic book Heretics! The Wondrous (and Dangerous) Beginnings of Modern Philosophy (Princeton, 2017) with his son Ben Nadler.

Tad Schmaltz is Professor of Philosophy and James B. and Grace J. Nelson Fellow at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His areas of specialization are the history of early modern philosophy, the history and philosophy of early modern science, and the relations among philosophy, science and theology in the early modern period. He has as special interests the variety of early modern "Cartesianisms"; the influence of late scholasticism on early modern thought; the nature of the "Scientific Revolution"; and early modern versions of substance-mode metaphysics, theories of mereology, and views of causation and freedom.

Delphine Antoine-Mahut is Professor of Philosophy at the ENS Lyon, France. Her research focuses on early modern philosophy, especially on the relations between metaphysics and physiology; on the historiography of early modern philosophy, in order to highlight the genesis of our current representations of modernity ; and on the various receptions of cartesianism, particularly on the crossed genesis of an official spiritualist model and an unofficial empiricist one.

Table of Contents

Part I: Descartes1. Philosopher Defying the Philosophers: Descartes's Life and Works, Han van Ruler2. What Descartes Read: His Intellectual Background, Roger Ariew3. Descartes's Correspondence and Correspondents", Theo Verbeek and Erik-Jan Bos4. Descartes on the Method of Analysis, Lex Newman5. Descartes's Metaphysics, Lawrence Nolan6. Mind and Psychology in Descartes, Gary Hatfield7. Descartes's Mechanical But Not Mechanistic Physics, Helen Hattab8. Descartes's Mathematics, Sebastien Maronne9. Descartes and Medicine, Gideon Manning10. Descartes on Freedom, C. P. Ragland11. Descartes and the Passions, Denis Kambouchner12. Descartes's Philosophical Theology, Igor Agostini13. Descartes's Moral Philosophy, Laurence Renault14. Descartes, Politics and 'True Human Beings, Delphine Antoine-Mahut15. The Compendium Musicae and Descartes's Aesthetics, Frederic de BuzonPart II: The Cartesians16. Mersenne: Questioning Descartes, Claudio Buccolini17. Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia as a Cartesian, Lisa Shapiro18. Claude Clerselier and the Development of Cartesianism, Tad M. Schmaltz19. Louis La Forge on Mind, Causality and Union, Philippe Drieux20. He has created a schism in philosophy': The Cartesianism of Geraud de Cordemoy, Fred Ablondi21. Antoine Arnauld: Cartesian Philosopher?, Denis Moreau22. The Ambiguities of Malebranche's Cartesianism, Jean-Christophe Bardout23. The Prince of Cartesian Philosophers: Pierre-Sylvain Regis, Antonella del Prete24. Jacques Rohault and Cartesian Experimentalism, Mihnea Dobre25. Robert Desgabets and the Supplement to Descartes's Philosophy, Tad M. Schmaltz26. The Early Dutch Reception of Cartesianism, Wiep van Bunge27. The Curious Case of Henricus Regius, Tad M. Schmaltz28. Geulincx and the Quod Nescis Principle: A Conservative Revolution, Andrea Sangiacomo29. Johannes Clauberg and the Search for the Initium Philosophiae: The Recovery of (Cartesian) Metaphysics, Alice Ragni30. What is Cartesianisma Fontenelle and the Subsequent Construction of Cartesian Philosophy?, Mitia Rioux-Beaulne31. Cartesianism in Britain, Sarah Hutton32. Italy Did Not Want to Be Cartesian': And For Good Reason, Giulia Belgioioso33. 33. "The Creation of Eternal Truths: Issues and Context", Dan Arbib34. Cartesianism and Eucharistic Physics, Jean-Robert Armogathe35. Cartesianism and Feminism, Marie-Frederique PellegrinPart III: The Critics36. Pascal and Port-Royal, Helene Bouchilloux37. Gassendi as Critic of Descartes, Antonia Lolordo38. Optics, First Philosophy and Natural Philosophy in Hobbes and Descartes, Douglas Jesseph39. Henry More, Jasper Reid40. Margaret Cavendish vs. Descartes on Mechanism and Animal Souls, Hadley Cooney41. Spinoza, Descartes and the 'Stupid Cartesians', Steven Nadler42. Simon Foucher and Anti-Cartesian Skepticism, Michael W. Hickson43. Locke on Cartesian Bodies and Cartesian Souls, Philippe Hamou44. Anne Conway's Response to Cartesianism, Christia Mercer45. Leibniz and Descartes, Jean-Pascal Anfray46. A Cartesien Manque: Pierre Bayle and Cartesianism, Todd Ryan47. The Condemnations of Cartesian Natural Philosophy Under Louis XIV (1661-1691), Sophie Roux48. Pierre-Daniel Huet, Skeptic Critic of Cartesianism and Defender of Religion, Thomas M. Lennon49. Gabriel Daniel: Descartes Through the Mirror of Fiction, Justin Smith50. Physics and Metaphysics in Descartes and Newton, Andrew Janiak