Descartes' enormously influential Meditations seeks to prove a number of theses: that God is a necessary existent; that our minds are equipped to track truth and avoid error; that the external world exists and provides us with information to preserve our embodiment; and that minds are immaterial substances. The work is a treasure-trove of views and arguments, but there are controversies about the details of the arguments and about how we are supposed to unpack the views themselves. This Companion offers a rich collection of new perspectives on the Meditations, showing how the work is structured literally as a meditation and how it fits into Descartes' larger philosophical system. Topics include Descartes' views on philosophical method, knowledge, skepticism, God, the nature of mind, free will, and the differences between reflective and embodied life. The volume will be valuable to those studying Descartes and early modern philosophy more generally.
Edited by:
David Cunning (Professor University of Iowa) Imprint: Cambridge University Press Country of Publication: United Kingdom Dimensions:
Height: 231mm,
Width: 155mm,
Spine: 23mm
Weight: 620g ISBN:9781107018600 ISBN 10: 1107018609 Series:Cambridge Companions to Philosophy Pages: 340 Publication Date:23 January 2014 Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format:Hardback Publisher's Status: Active
David Cunning is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa. He is the author of Argument and Persuasion in Descartes' Meditations (2010) and Margaret Cavendish (forthcoming).