About this title: Is knowledge possible? If so, what can we know and how do we come to know it? What degree of certainty does our knowledge enjoy? In these two powerful works, Descartes, the seventeenth-century philosopher considered to be the father of modern philosophy, outlines his philosophical method and then counters the sceptics of his time by insisting that certain knowledge can be had. He goes on to address the nature and extent of human knowledge, the distinction between mind and body, the existence of God, and the existence of external objects.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publis
Date Published: 1960
ISBN-13:9780672602788ISBN:0672602784
Description: Good. ---143 pgs. Interior-Nice overall condition. The soft cover has light signs of aging. -Publish Place: New York-Size: 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company
Date Published: 1960
ISBN-13:9780672602788ISBN:0672602784
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Highlighting/underlining. cover is bumped and scuffed and has some underlines and margin notes--not pretty, certainly used and still fine to read. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. Library of Liberal Arts, 89. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill
Date Published: 1960
Description: Good. 49y Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription, or may be library discards. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company
Date Published: 1960
ISBN-13:9780672602788ISBN:0672602784
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Highlighting/underlining. very little underlining; shelf, cover and edge wear; pages very good; 2-29-08. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. Library of Liberal Arts, 89. read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Used-Good Hall Street Books Proudly ships all books from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours M-F. 100% Money-Back Guarantee and No-Worry return policy. read more
Edition: First edition. Fifteenth Printing
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishing
Date Published: 1977
ISBN-13:9780672602788ISBN:0672602784
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. Library of Liberal Arts, 143 pp Previous owner's name neatly written in ink on title page read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: The Bobbs-Merrill Publishing Com
Date Published: 1980
Description: Acceptable. Well used. Still readable but not for the collector. All orders processed within 2 business days. Ships from Foxboro MA. read more
Edition: 9th
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Library of Liberal Arts / Bobbs Merrill
Date Published: 1960
Description: Good- As issued No Jacket. Text is underlined and has margin notes, (some highlighter marks on title page and contents page, some pages dogeared, and other moderate showpwear. Classic philosphical treatise in standard translations. read more
"In a quest for certainty, Descarte questions (doubts) everything and wipes the slate clean by pretending that "everything was false." But then he rebuilds reality through his recognition that if he thought all was false, then thought itself must be real. Hence his well-known observation that, "I think, therefore I am." As to the question of why man, unlike other beings, has rationality, Descarte weaves the science of cause and effect into his argument and concludes that such rationality, while its expression is imperfect in man, must necessarily stem from a perfect being, which is God. From there, Descarte states that man's objective on earth was to use reason to approximate the perfection of God. But Descartes' philosophy leads humans away from their biological being. The world of thought takes precedence over the body. We become heads without bodies, rational souls not biological souls. We are deep in knowledge about the external world but not about ourselves. With his famous "I think" observation, he assumes "I" is "think," when it could just as easily have been stated that that "I exist, therefore I think." Afterall, if the body dies, how can one think? Our existence as biological beings leads to a different type of certainty (how to live, live well and, perhaps, how to live authentically). It leads to a different kind of perfection (how to preserve oneself) and a different kind of philosophy (how to use reason to preserve the self and how to promote social order in ways that preserve the self), but this is not the path that Descarte follows."
"'I think therefore I am' Probably the most quoted philosophical reference around today. But people generally don't know what it means! Descartes is reputed as the Father of Modern Philosophy, the bringer of new ways of thinking, of revising our beliefs. Though a blatant sexist, speciesist and bigot he was a man of his time. His philosophy however was not. Imagine an evil genius, he has your brain in a jar somewhere and is manipulating it to make you believe all that you perceive around you. You can see, smell, feel, taste, hear and believe all of them. Descartes said that all of these senses could well be the creation of that evil genius and we have no reason to believe that the world around us it real. All that Descartes could safely assume was real was his mind. For if the mind was not real, how could the genius deceive you? Thought is the essence of man, it's reality. Descartes believed in something known commonly as Two Substance Dualism, and more academically as Cartesian Dualism. This states that humans have a material and a mental substance, each being separate. When the body dies the mind will survive as it is not dependant on the body, though the body needs the mind to make it human. At the time this was ground breaking, and it didn't contradict Christian orthodoxy (of whom Descartes was a pious believer). All of this is nowadays taken for granted, this knowledge of so pivotal a change in the book of history is equally relevant today. Though not my favourite philosophy (preferring works of Mill and Sartre) it is none the less core stuff and should appear on every self respecting philosophers shelves."
"I think this book is the turning point in the development of modern thinking. It was written after Galileo had his problems and I think Descartes was trying to reassure the powers that be that reason and revelation need not contradict each other. Basically, I think it is Plato, reworked, so that God replaces Good or eternal truth. I found in it a fairly modern interpretation of God. I think Descartes was a Deist.
It is also a description of the process of coming to know."
"I'm probably a bad person to rate this book, since I've had to read both the discourse and the meditations MULTIPLE TIMES. It gets old, especially when you're dealing with antiquated (and just plain wrong) philosophy. All-in-all though, there's no denying what Descartes did for modern philosophy. So, way to go!"
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