Radical Cartesianism: The French Reception of Descartes

by Tad M. Schmaltz

• ISBN13: 9780521039161
• ISBN10: 0521039169
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-08-20
• 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

A note on citation and translation

List of abbreviations

Introduction: radical Cartesianism in context

Robert Desgabets

Desgabets's ConsidFrations, Arnauld and Cartesianism

Three Radical Doctrines

The creation doctrine: indefectible material substance and God

The intentionality doctrine: ideas and extra-mental objects

The union doctrine: temporal human thought and motion

Pierre-Sylvain Regis

Huet's Censura, Malebranche and Platonism

Conclusion: 'a forgotten branch of Cartesianism'

Works cited

Index

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