Radical Cartesianism: The French Reception of Descartes

by Tad M. Schmaltz

• ISBN13: 9780521811347
• ISBN10: 0521811341
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-09-16
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is a book-length study of two of Descartes's most innovative successors, Robert Desgabets and Pierre-Sylvain Regis, and of their highly original contributions to Cartesianism. The focus of the book is an analysis of radical doctrines in the work of these thinkers that derive from arguments in Descartes: on the creation of eternal truths, on the intentionality of ideas, and on the soul-body union. As well as relating their work to that of fellow Cartesians such as Malebranche and Arnauld, the book also establishes the important though neglected role played by Desgabets and Regis in the theologically and politically charged reception of Descartes in early modern France. This is a major contribution to the history of Cartesianism that will be of special interest to historians of early modern philosophy and historians of ideas.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
A Note on Citation and Translation	xii
List of Abbreviations	xiii
Introduction: Radical Cartesianism in Context	1	(2)
Desgabets and Regis	3	(6)
French Cartesianisms	9	(10)
A Map of Radical Cartesianism	19	(8)
PART I. ROBERT DESGABETS
Desgabets's Considerations, Arnauld, and Cartesianism	27	(50)
The 1671 Decree and the Considerations	29	(5)
Descartes and Desgabets on the Eucharist	34	(13)
Desgabets's Considerations: Three Philosophical Assumptions	47	(6)
Arnauld on the Eucharist and Cartesianism	53	(15)
La Ville on Cartesianism and Desgabets	68	(9)
PART II. THREE RADICAL DOCTRINES
The Creation Doctrine: Indefectible Material Substance and God	77	(53)
Three Problems from Descartes	80	(8)
Desgabets's Critique: Necessary Truths and God's Essence	88	(6)
The Indefectibility of Substance	94	(3)
Metaphysical Foundations for Physics	97	(5)
Quasi-Spinozistic Indivisibility	102	(5)
Regis's Usage: Creation and Indefectible Motion	107	(6)
Quasi-Spinozistic Causal Dissimilarity	113	(8)
Malebranche, Spinozism, and God's Supersubstantiality	121	(6)
Radical Solutions to Descartes's Problems	127	(3)
The Intentionality Doctrine: Ideas and Extra-mental Objects	130	(37)
Desgabets's Critique: Ideas, Essences, and Extension	132	(5)
The Intentionality Principle	137	(3)
Objective Reality and the Object Argument	140	(7)
Pure Possibilities and the Essence Argument	147	(3)
Quasi-Spinozistic Connections to the Creation Doctrine	150	(6)
``The First Fault of Descartes''	156	(6)
Cartesian Realism: The First Step	162	(5)
The Union Doctrine: Temporal Human Thought and Motion	167	(48)
Desgabets's Critique: Pure Intellect and Memory	169	(5)
``The Second Fault of Descartes''	174	(5)
Nihil est in Intellectu	179	(3)
Continuous Time and the Union with Motion	182	(4)
Angelic Intellect and Human Thought	186	(8)
A Cartesian Refutation of Idealism	194	(12)
Cartesian Realism: The Second Step	206	(9)
PART III. PIERRE-SYLVAIN REGIS
Huet's Censura, Malebranche, and Platonism	215	(46)
The 1691 Formulary and the Censura	217	(6)
Huet-Regis-Du Hamel: Cartesian Themes	223	(14)
Regis's Usage: Faith and Reason	237	(4)
Regis-Malebranche-Lelevel: Platonic Themes	241	(15)
Platonism in Genest's ``Lettre a Regis''	256	(5)
Conclusion: ``A Forgotten Branch of Cartesianism''	261	(6)
Works Cited	267	(13)
Index	280