Against Cartesian Philosophy
Against Cartesian Philosophy (JHP Books Series) Pierre Daniel Huet, Thomas M. Lennon (Editor)
Publisher: Humanity Books
ISBN: 1591021022
DDC: 194
Edition: Hardcover; 2003-11
Summary:
French philosophy in the latter half of the seventeenth century was
dominated by reactions to Rene Descartes. So influential was his
philosophical legacy that it was practically impossible to write or
discuss philosophy without taking a position in regard to the
Cartesian worldview. Most later philosophers either adapted
Descartes's approach to fit other points of view or they criticized
aspects of Descartes's philocophy that were perceived to threaten
more traditional approaches to philosophy. In the latter camp is the
"Censura Philosophiae Cartesianae", written in Latin by Pierre-Daniel
Huet (1630-1721), an erudite cleric, teacher, philosopher, and
scientist, and one of the most accomplished intellectuals of the age.
In the first-ever English translation of the "Censura", Thomas M.
Lennon has done both historians and philosophers a great service by
presenting this fully annotated edition of Huet's magnum opus. The
"Censura" is the most comprehensive, unrelenting, and devastating
critique of Descartes ever published. Anticipating the issues that
have occupied Cartesian scholarship for the past half-century, Huet
argues at length that Descartes's philosophy fails on many counts:
his methodology of doubting; the reliability of his famous "cogita"
("I think, therefore I am"); clarity and distinctness as criteria of
truth; his proofs for the existence of God; the circularity of his
main argument in the "Meditations"; and numerous other points.
Complete with an extensive introduction explaining the circumstances,
history, and importance of the work; a brief biography of its
fascinating author; and helpful scholarly annotations; this
translation of Huet's "Censura" brings to light an important
philosophical work that has been neglected for more than three
hundred years. This is the first volume in the new JHP Books series,
published in cooperation with the "Journal of the History of
Philosophy."
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