Abstract

Vinci’s express aim is two-fold: “to show that Cartesian epistemology has more power and plausibility overall than contemporary philosophers are willing to admit, and to defend Descartes’s rule of truth”. Vinci’s interpretation is highly original, systematic, and carefully argued, though some readers will find its analytic style forbidding. In developing his reconstruction of Descartes’ epistemology, Vinci covers a wide range of problems in Cartesian scholarship. He offers sensitive treatments of such issues as the Third Meditation causal principle, the three grades of sensation, material falsity, sensation and representation, clarity and distinctness, the teachings of nature, and much more. Vinci’s most provocative work concerns Descartes’ handling of the senses. Vinci argues that in contrast with the mostly negative view of the senses portrayed in the Meditations, the Principles of Philosophy presents a more optimistic view. On this optimistic account, Descartes holds that the senses underwrite a form of direct intuition of corporeal/brain states.