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A major contribution to Descartes studies, this book provides a panorama of cutting-edge scholarship ranging widely over Descartes's own primary concerns: metaphysics, physics, and its applications. It is at once a tool for scholars and--steering clear of technical Cartesian science--an accessible resource that will delight nonspecialists. The contributors include Edwin Curley, Willis Doney, Alan Gabbey, Daniel Garber, Marjorie Grene, Gary Hatfield, Marleen Rozemond, John Schuster, Dennis Sepper, Stephen Voss, Stephen Wagner, Margaret Welson, Jean Marie Beyssade, Michelle Beyssade, Michel Henry, Evert van Leeuwen, Jean-Luc Marion, Genevi?ve Rodis-Lewis, and Jean-Pierre S?ris. Combining new textual sensitivity with attentiveness to history, they represent the best established scholars and most exciting new voices, including both English speaking and newly-translated writers. Part I examines the foundations of Descartes's philosophy: Cartesian certainty; the phenomenology of the cogito and its modulations in the passions; and the defensibility and comprehensibility of the Cartesian God. The second part examines Descartes's groundbreaking metaphysics: mind's distinctness from and interaction with body; imagination; perception; and language. Part III examines Cartesian science: the revolutionary rhetoric of the Rules and the Discourse; the metaphysical foundations of physics; the interplay of rationalism and empiricism; the mechanics and human biology that flow from Descartes's physics.
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Essays on the Philosophy and Science of Rene Descartes This page intentionally left blank Essays on the Philosophy and Science of Rene Descartes Edited by STEPHEN VOSS New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1993 Oxford University Press Oxford New York Toronto Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi Kuala Lumpur Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town Melbourne Auckland Madrid and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1993 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Figures 18.1, 18.2, 18.3, and 19.1 are courtesy of Librarie Philosophique J. Vrin. Copyright © 1964-1976 J. Vrin. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Essays on the philosophy and science of Rene Descartes / edited by Stephen Voss. p. cm. In English, with some essays translated from French. Includes index. ISBN 0-19-507550-1; ISBN 0-19-507551-X (pbk.) 1. Descartes, Rene, 1596-1650. I. Voss, Stephen, 1940B1875.E87 1993 194—dc20 92-6596 24681097531 Printed in the United States of America on acid free paper To Karen, Amarantha, Serenity, Tamara, and Julie This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments I am grateful to many people for valuable assistance with this book. Michelle Beyssade, Alan Gabbey, Daniel Garber, Douglas Henslee, and Dalia Judovitz made up an invaluable advisory board. Earlier, in the days of the Sainte Claire, so did John Etchemendy, Peter Galison, and Mark Olson. Wonderful and varied contributions were made by Margaret Wilson, Karen Voss, Frederick Van De Pitte, Fred Sprat, Elizabeth Sonnier, LaVonne Simpson, JeanJacques Servain-Schreiber, Richard Schubert, Dennis Rohatyn, Vernon Read and the Collegium Musicum, Charles Paul, David MacNeil, Peter Koestenbaum, Richard Keady, Michael Katz, Barbara Jeskalian, Marilyn Holland, Thomas Hicks, Donna Gustafson, Kathy Eldred, Lucius Eastman, Rob Daigle, Ed Curley, Peter Collins, Vere Chappell, Cor