In the Louvre museum hangs a portrait of a middle-aged man with long dark hair, a mustache, and heavy-lidded eyes, and he is dressed in the starched white collar and black coat of the typical Dutch ...burgher. The painting is now the iconic image of René Descartes, the great seventeenth-century French philosopher. And the painter of the work? The Dutch master Frans Hals--or so it was long believed, until the work was downgraded to a copy of an original. But where, then, is the authentic version located, and who painted it? Is the man in the painting--and in its original--really Descartes?
A unique combination of philosophy, biography, and art history,The Philosopher, the Priest, and the Painterinvestigates the remarkable individuals and circumstances behind a small portrait. Through this image--and the intersecting lives of a brilliant philosopher, a Catholic priest, and a gifted painter--Steven Nadler opens up a fascinating portal into Descartes's life and times, skillfully presenting an accessible introduction to Descartes's philosophical and scientific ideas, and an illuminating tour of the volatile political and religious environment of the Dutch Golden Age. As Nadler shows, Descartes's innovative ideas about the world, about human nature and knowledge, and about philosophy itself, stirred great controversy. Philosophical and theological critics vigorously opposed his views, and civil and ecclesiastic authorities condemned his writings. Nevertheless, Descartes's thought came to dominate the philosophical world of the period, and can rightly be called the philosophy of the seventeenth century.
Shedding light on a well-known image,The Philosopher, the Priest, and the Painteroffers an engaging exploration of a celebrated philosopher's world and work.
A historically-informed account of the lasting importance of embodied thought in the intellectual trajectory of René Descartes, still remembered today as the founding father of dualism.
Descartes es ampliamente reconocido como uno de los actores centrales en la emergencia y consolidación de las leyes de la naturaleza en la filosofía natural del siglo XVII. En este artículo, tras ...mostrar el trasfondo aristotélico-escolástico al que se opone la ontología cartesiana, examinaremos su formulación de las leyes de la naturaleza en El Mundo y en los Principios. Argumentaremos que, aunque suscitó una recepción crítica en la tradición experimentalista de Boyle, el racionalismo nómico cartesiano logró trazar, sin embargo, una carta de viaje para algunos de los problemas que siguen ocupando un lugar central en la discusión en torno a leyes de la naturaleza.
Widespread scholarly agreement has it that Descartes' theory of judgment favors a compatibilist interpretation. This essay explains and rebuts the standard arguments made on behalf of compatibilist ...readings, while explaining and defending a libertarian interpretation. Along with relevant Fourth Meditation doctrines and texts, my analysis encompasses a much discussed 1645 letter discussing his account. Although some scholars view the letter as departing from the account of the Meditations, I argue that the two works present a consistent view – allowing us to take at face value that the letter purports to elaborate Descartes' intended meaning in the associated Fourth Meditation passage.
The Evil Deceiver Strikes Again Wilson, Mark
Australasian journal of philosophy,
10/2022, Letnik:
100, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This article situates Descartes' physical thinking within the nexus of machine science, which rests upon different foundational piers than regular classical mechanics of a Newtonian stripe. In ...particular, connected cyclic processes of the sort encountered in clockwork mechanisms (and Descartes' own vortices) become central rather than impactive collisions of any kind. Such a placement supplies a more sympathetic understanding of many of his most notorious claims: conservation of 'quantity of motion', relationalism with respect to space, relative rest as an explanation of particle cohesion, etc. Of course, the resulting system of ideas is not perfect, but the mistakes are more subtle than usually presumed.
...philosophers and scientists are continually coming up with new theories on why or how they think that the physical brain can bring the metaphysical mind into being.According to Dennett, this ...something is cultural evolution, powered by our ability to think and the evolution of language....this is how our minds must have evolved from our physical brain, he tries to convince.
This paper reconstructs Sellars' theory of “sensation” or “sense impression,” positioning it in relation to his theoretical distinction between the Manifest and Scientific Image. Though Sellars' ...account of “sensation” has been a widely neglected part of his thought, it is central not only to his theory of perception but also to understanding his confrontation with traditional accounts of sensing (from Descartes to C.I. Lewis and Husserl). In this article, I first show that Sellars' argument for introducing the notion of “sensation” into his theoretical system should be understood as distinctly explanatory, rather than transcendental or phenomenological. After outlining this argument and analyzing its significance, I explore Sellars' adverbialist construal of “sensation” and its implications in relation to contemporaneous and current forms of adverbialism. Finally, in the last part of the paper, I illuminate how Sellars situates his conceptual framework for “sensations” (correctly understood) in the Manifest Image theory of perception. Highlighting Sellars' understanding of the process by which the Manifest Image substitutes sensation in the Scientific Image, I clarify Sellars' obscure notion of “sensa,” then conclude with a comprehensive account of his stereoscopic view of the phenomenon of sensing.
According to most contemporary philosophers, the Indiscernibility of Identicals is obviously true. We might therefore expect earlier philosophers to endorse it. But I will use a puzzle about identity ...over time to argue that Descartes would reject it.
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