All Questions
Tagged with descartes history-of-philosophy
20
questions
5
votes
1
answer
164
views
Blaise Pascal and a possible unfinished Philosophical System?
We know that Blaise Pascal died young and was unable to develop many of his theses that are embryonically present in his Pensées, his treatise on Grace, or his reflections on the spirit of geometry. ...
- 171
8
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Why did Descartes claim that animals have no souls if they have the pituitary?
As far as I understand it, Descartes claimed that the pituitary is the "antenna" through which the brain and the soul communicate, and he also claimed only human beings have souls. So, how ...
- 326
3
votes
4
answers
286
views
Was the notion of mind-body dualism invented, or at least popularized, by Rene Descartes?
This dualism seems so compelling (from a layman’s perspective) that it seems difficult to imagine that Descartes invented or even popularized it. For instance, people kept using words like “soul” to ...
- 676
-1
votes
2
answers
288
views
Descartes and the concept of motion
If we believe that calculus satisfactorily solves Zeno’s paradoxes of motion, conceptual clarity about real analysis was not achieved before Cauchy's definition of the limit (in “Cours d'Analyse”, ...
- 4,841
1
vote
0
answers
40
views
Why does Hayek refer to French 'individualism' as the "Cartesian" school?
I am reading Frederick Hayek right now and saw that he refers to the French liberal tradition, what he calls French "individualism (vs the English liberal tradition of Smith, Ferguson, Burke, etc.) ...
- 479
0
votes
4
answers
250
views
Does the frequent study of the history of philosophy cause us to lose critical thinking? [closed]
Does the long and frequent study of the history of philosophy cause us to lose critical thinking and philosophical insight into the issues and, as Descartes puts it, "contaminate ourselves with past ...
- 131
1
vote
1
answer
323
views
Does Existence Belong to the Nature of Substance?
In Proposition 7, Part I of the Ethics Spinoza claims:
Existence belongs to the nature of substance.
This means that substance exists necessarily or, to put it even simpler, that each substance ...
- 282
6
votes
1
answer
341
views
Was there a "mechanist" program of early rationalists, like Descartes and Leibniz?
Leibniz and Descartes are said to put forth "mechanist philosophies," but I am having trouble identifying what "mechanist" means. Does it involve their affinity to natural science and mathematics and ...
6
votes
1
answer
740
views
Rationalism and Catholicism / Protestantism
How much more “incompatible” was rationalism with Catholicism compared to Protestant christianity?
Of course everyone learned in high school that the enlightenment was in direct opposition to ...
- 4,841
2
votes
1
answer
237
views
English translation of Descartes's Notae in Programma Quoddam?
The SEP entry on Descartes (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-works/) mentions his work "Notae in Programma Quoddam." It is referred to as "Notes on a Program-also referred to as Comments ...
- 121
6
votes
1
answer
327
views
If Descartes was not a ‘Cartesian’ dualist, who was?
Some scholars have made the argument that a careful reading of Descartes shows (for example, see his ship-sailor-analogy) that he himself did not actually believe in a dualism of the proverbial ‘ghost ...
- 4,841
2
votes
2
answers
909
views
Nietzche quoting Descartes... without source
In the Will to Power Nietzche quotes Descartes
omne illud verum est, quod clare et distincte percipitur
However I cannot find the quoted source. Can anyone identify it?
- 123
5
votes
4
answers
294
views
Was Descartes the first one to approach metaphysics epistemologically?
In his method Descartes approaches the questions of the first philosophy, i.e. metaphysics, via the method of doubt. One could say that he has an epistemological approach, by first asking what he can ...
- 153
3
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Descartes' Theory of Innate Ideas
Can you guys explain to me about Descartes' three levels of ideas. The first level represents mode, the second finite substance and third infinite substance. How do these three levels of ideas relate ...
- 639
1
vote
1
answer
639
views
For Descartes, is "res cogitans" : "res extensa" :: "ens rationis" : "ens reale"?
For Descartes, would the following analogy hold?
res cogitans : res extensa :: ens rationis : ens reale
Or did Descartes distinguish the terms res cogitans from ens rationis and res extensa from ens ...
- 8,260