This chapter focuses on the human body and how it falls out of Spinoza's physical picture in a natural way that it is a modification of something more fundamental. Spinoza's further view that the human mind is Substance's understanding of the universe when restricted to the human body implies that the mind, too, is a modification of something more basic, namely, Substance's thought. The appearance of a human body in Spinoza's plenum is merely the emergence of a new pattern of (...) motion and rest within Extension. The Aristotelian thesis that the real definition of a human being is rational animal may sound to us too “logical” or “formal” to count as a piece of natural philosophy, a piece of natural science. Spinoza's view that finite things depend on the invariant structure of some more basic order brings his natural philosophy much closer to ours than to Aristotelian natural philosophy. (shrink)

Between Two Worlds is an authoritative commentary on--and powerful reinterpretation of--the founding work of modern philosophy, Descartes's Meditations. Philosophers have tended to read Descartes's seminal work in an occasional way, examining its treatment of individual topics while ignoring other parts of the text. In contrast, John Carriero provides a sustained, systematic reading of the whole text, giving a detailed account of the positions against which Descartes was reacting, and revealing anew the unity, meaning, and originality of the Meditations. (...) Carriero finds in the Meditations a nearly continuous argument against Thomistic Aristotelian ways of thinking about cognition, and shows more clearly than ever before how Descartes bridged the old world of scholasticism and the new one of mechanistic naturalism. Rather than casting Descartes's project primarily in terms of skepticism, knowledge, and certainty, Carriero focuses on fundamental disagreements between Descartes and the scholastics over the nature of understanding, the relation between the senses and the intellect, the nature of the human being, and how and to what extent God is cognized by human beings. Against this background, Carriero shows, Descartes developed his own conceptions of mind, body, and the relation between them, creating a coherent, philosophically rich project in the Meditations and setting the agenda for a century of rationalist metaphysics. (shrink)

Introduction -- The first meditation -- The second meditation -- The third meditation : the truth rule and the "chief and most common mistake" -- The third meditation : two demonstrations of God's existence -- The fourth meditation -- The fifth meditation -- The sixth meditation.

ABSTRACTI draw attention to certain differences between how seventeenth‐century philosophers thought about knowledge and how contemporary philosophers think about it. These differences do not strike me as particularly subtle; they are gross enough that we might wonder about the extent to which seventeenthth‐century philosophers and modern philosophers are interested in the same thing. We might also wonder about the extent to which it is helpful to apply the same label—say, ‘epistemology’—to both sets of interests. I think, for example, one might (...) reasonably raise the question, Is there any epistemology, in our sense of the term, in Spinoza or Leibniz? (shrink)

Kartezjusz w kwestii intelektualnego doświadczenia i sceptycyzmu Epistemologia Kartezjusza jest zakorzeniona w jego głębokim zainteresowaniu i uznaniu dla tego, co można by nazwać intelektualnym doświadczeniem, lub dokładniej przejrzystym intelektualnym doświadczeniem. To zainteresowanie intelektualnym doświadczeniem, jak mi się wydaje, podzielali inni racjonaliści, Spinoza i Leibniz. W części pierwszej artykułu staram się ulokować fenomen przejrzystego intelektualnego doświadczenia w ramach doktryny Kartezjusza i Spinozy. Usiłuję pokazać, że jeśli nie uwzględnimy w sposób właściwy charakteru tego doświadczenia, to ryzykujemy utratą wglądu w centralne motywy leżące (...) u podstaw ich teorii poznania. W drugiej części artykułu rozważam intelektualne doświadczenia w kontekście sceptycznego wątpienia, w szczególności radyklanego wątpienia. Chociaż często przyjmuje się, że Kartezjusz i Spinoza zajmują opozycyjne stanowiska, gdy chodzi o kwestię radykalnego wątpienia, to ja sądzę, że ich stanowisko były bardziej do siebie podobne w tej sprawie niż się zwykle przyjmuje. (shrink)

Im Falle einer kontingenten Wahrheit 'S ist P' behauptet Leibniz sowohl, daß der Begriff von P im Begriff von S enthalten ist als auch, daß die Verbindung von S und P durch den göttlichen Willen besteht: Wie kann das angehen? Ich beantworte diese Frage, indem ich eine Deutung der Leibnizschen Doktrin von Wahrheit als Enthaltensein und seiner Auffassung vom vollständigen Begriff einer individuellen Substanz anbiete, nach der jene seinen Überlegungen darüber entspringen, inwiefern die 'Neue Wissenschaft' sich mit der traditionellen Unterscheidung (...) von Essenz und Akzidens nicht gut verträgt. Aus meiner Interpretation folgt dann, daß Leibniz' Theorie begrifflichen Enthaltenseins wie die verwandte Theorie der unendlichen Analyse auf einer Struktur beruhen, die in einigen, aber, wie sich zeigen läßt, nicht in allen möglichen physikalischen Ordnungen aufgefunden werden kann. Ich werde darlegen, daß diese Einsicht meine Interpretation nicht untergräbt. Zum Schluß deute ich an, inwiefern sich Leibniz' Überlegungen zur Kontingenz in Begriffen göttlicher Vermögen und in Begriffen unendlicher Komplexität ergänzen. (shrink)

A collection of more than 30 specially commissioned essays, this volume surveys the work of the 17th-century philosopher-scientist commonly regarded as the founder of modern philosophy, while integrating unique essays detailing the context and impact of his work. Covers the full range of historical and philosophical perspectives on the work of Descartes Discusses his seminal contributions to our understanding of skepticism, mind-body dualism, self-knowledge, innate ideas, substance, causality, God, and the nature of animals Explores the philosophical significance of his contributions (...) to mathematics and science Concludes with a section on the impact of Descartes's work on subsequent philosophers. (shrink)

Es hat sich als ausgesprochen schwierig erwiesen, für Leibniz' Auffassung, daß kontingente Wahrheiten unendlich komplex sind, eine Interpretation zu finden, die diese Auffassung kohärent erscheinen läßt. Dies liegt daran, daß seine Kommentatoren dazu neigen, sich für die unendliche Analyse einer kontingenten Wahrheit am Vorbild eines nicht endenden logischen Beweises zu orientieren. Ich versuche hingegen zu zeigen, daß unendliche Analysen als unendliche Reihe immer komplexerer und detaillierterer physischer Argumente aufgefaßt werden sollten. Ferner versuche ich zu zeigen, daß die Theorie der unendlichen (...) Analyse speziell für die Wahrung dessen entworfen wurde, was man ,innerweltliche' Kontingenz nennen könnte, d.h. einer Kontingenz, die aus internen Merkmalen einer gegebenen moglichen Welt hervorgeht, im Gegensatz zu einer Kontingenz, die aus Überlegungen dariiber entsteht, welche anderen Welten Gott geschaffen haben konnte. Um innerweltliche Köntingenz geht es, wenn Leibniz scheinbare Gefahren für die Freiheit betrachtet, die aus seiner Erklärung von Wahrheit als einem begrifflichen Enthaltensein entstehen. (shrink)

First Published in 1990. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Descartes has long been recognized as occupying a pivotal position in Western philosophy. At the very center of Descartes's innovation are his intimately related conceptions of mind and knowledge. These twin notions ground the main problems that have continued to exercise philosophers to this day. Indeed, his elaboration of these notions establishes for his successors the agenda of problems to be addressed and the vocabulary with which to address them--so much so that Spinoza, Locke, and Leibniz, despite their very significant (...) disagreements, have much more in common with each other than with their medieval predecesors. This dissertation delineates the transition Descartes effects from a prevalent medieval conception of understanding to a modern conception of it. Through the examination of the discontinuities--and the continuities--between Descartes's account of the understanding and that of high scholasticism will emerge a characterization of two ways in which the understanding is autonomous in Descartes's view. These two sorts of autonomy shed light on the origin of a set of related concerns that give modern philosophy its coherence, setting it apart from medieval philosophy as a distinct tradition. A first sort of autonomy--the independence of the understanding from the senses--creates the modern problem of skepticism with regard to the external world, and is a necessary precondition for modern discussions of the scope and limit of human knowledge; a second sort of autonomy, concerning the ontological status of the mind, provides the background against which modern discussions of the mind/body problem take shape. (shrink)

This chapter contains section titled: Clear Perception and Seeing that Something is So Clear Perception and the Truth Rule Acknowledgments References and Further Reading.

This collection of recent articles by leading scholars is designed to illuminate one of the greatest and most influential philosophical books of all time. It includes incisive commentary on every major theme and argument in the Meditations, and will be valuable not only to philosophers but to historians, theologians, literary scholars, and interested general readers.

First Published in 1990. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A collection of more than 30 specially commissioned essays, this volume surveys the work of the 17th-century philosopher-scientist commonly regarded as the founder of modern philosophy, while integrating unique essays detailing the context and impact of his work. Covers the full range of historical and philosophical perspectives on the work of Descartes Discusses his seminal contributions to our understanding of skepticism, mind-body dualism, self-knowledge, innate ideas, substance, causality, God, and the nature of animals Explores the philosophical significance of his contributions (...) to mathematics and science Concludes with a section on the impact of Descartes's work on subsequent philosophers. (shrink)

Robert M. Adams’s Leibniz: Determinist, Theist, Idealist will be a landmark in Leibniz scholarship. It is a privilege to be asked to comment on it.

(No abstract is available for this citation).

This collection of previously unpublished essays on Spinoza provides a representative sample of new and interesting research on the philosopher. Spinoza's philosophy still has an underserved reputation for being obscure and incomprehensible. In these chapters, Spinoza is seen mostly as a metaphysician who tried to pave the way for the new science. The essays investigate several themes, notably Spinoza's monism, the nature of the individual, the relation between mind and body, and his place in 17th century philosophy including his relation (...) to Descartes and Leibniz. The top scholars working on Spinoza today are all represented, including John Carriero, Michael Della Rocca, and Don Garrett. (shrink)

John Carriero, Massimo Mugnai, and Daniel Garber have all contributed significantly to our understanding of Leibniz. I am honored to have my book discussed by such distinguished Leibniz interpreters, and their present reviews all push me in ways that I find instructive. I will first discuss issues pertaining to contingency, responding to Carriero’s review and most of Mugnai’s; then issues about bodies, responding to Garber’s review and the last part of Mugnai’s.

John Carriero, Massimo Mugnai, and Daniel Garber have all contributed significantly to our understanding of Leibniz. I am honored to have my book discussed by such distinguished Leibniz interpreters, and their present reviews all push me in ways that I find instructive. I will first discuss issues pertaining to contingency, responding to Carriero’s review and most of Mugnai’s; then issues about bodies, responding to Garber’s review and the last part of Mugnai’s.

Though the revised edition of A Theory of Justice, published in 1999, is the definitive statement of Rawls's view, so much of the extensive literature on Rawls's theory refers to the first edition. This reissue makes the first edition once again available for scholars and serious students of Rawls's work.

Though the revised edition of A Theory of Justice, published in 1999, is the definitive statement of Rawls's view, so much of the extensive literature on Rawls's theory refers to the first edition.

John MacFarlane explores how we might make sense of the idea that truth is relative. He provides new, satisfying accounts of parts of our thought and talk that have resisted traditional methods of analysis, including what we mean when we talk about what is tasty, what we know, what will happen, what might be the case, and what we ought to do.

For this second edition, the editors have returned to Austin's original lecture notes, amending the printed text where it seemed necessary.

Much as we would like to conceive empirical thought as rationally grounded in experience, pitfalls await anyone who tries to articulate this position, and ...

What psychological and philosophical significance should we attach to recent efforts at computer simulations of human cognitive capacities? In answering this question, I find it useful to distinguish what I will call "strong" AI from "weak" or "cautious" AI. According to weak AI, the principal value of the computer in the study of the mind is that it gives us a very powerful tool. For example, it enables us to formulate and test hypotheses in a more rigorous and precise fashion. (...) But according to strong AI, the computer is not merely a tool in the study of the mind; rather, the appropriately programmed computer really is a mind, in the sense that computers given the right programs can be literally said to. (shrink)