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Descartes is not simply our iconic modern philosopher, mathematician or scientist. He stands as the cultural symbol for modernity itself. As such, Descartes is widely read in and out of universities as the definitive moment in the birth of what we take to be the Modern. Yet, recent scholarship has presented numerous challenges to the Cartesian image. Some question the legitimacy of calling Descartes a founder of modernity. Others have questioned the very legitimacy of Modernity itself, using Descartes as a way into that critique This collection of original papers by leading philosophers and historians of early modern thought opens up these questions, exploring them in new and markedly interd...
"The Enlightenment's Most Dangerous Woman: Émilie du Châtelet and the Making of Modern Philosophy introduces the work and legacy of philosopher Émilie Du Châtelet. As the Enlightenment gained momentum throughout Europe, Châtelet broke through the many barriers facing women at the time and published a major philosophical treatise in French. Due to her proclamation that a true philosopher must remain an independent thinker rather than a disciple of some supposedly great man like Isaac Newton or René Descartes, Châtelet posed a threat to an emerging consensus in the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment's Most Dangerous Woman highlights the exclusion of women from colleges and academies in Europe and the fear of rupturing the gender-based order"--
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The central aim of The Philosopher’s Dictionary is to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date guide of philosophical terms. Definitions are brief, clear, and user-friendly. Notes on usage, spelling, and pronunciation are included, and there are brief entries on hundreds of the best-known philosophers. Throughout, Martin writes in a style at once informative and authoritative, making difficult concepts intelligible without distorting them. The third edition has been revised throughout, and includes many new entries on philosophical concepts, from Berry’s paradox to the Chinese room example to perfectionism and satisfice. The number of entries on active philosophers has also been considerably increased.
David Braybrooke is one of the most important figures in North American philosophy. His work in political philosophy is both prolific and significant and he has contributed to the philosophical corpus books on topics as diverse as utilitarianism, natural law, and moral objectives. Engaged Philosophy is a collection of original essays written in honour of Braybrooke by some of his colleagues and students at Halifax's Dalhousie University.
Jacqueline Broad presents a new account of the philosophy of Mary Astell (1666-1731), which situates Astell's feminist, political, and religious views in the context of her wider philosophical vision. She argues that at the heart of Astell's thought lies a theory of virtue which emphasises generosity of character, benevolence, and moderation.
In Rediscovering Colors: A Study in Pollyanna Realism, Michael Watkins endorses the Moorean view that colors are simple, non-reducible, properties of objects. Consequently, Watkins breaks from what has become the received view that either colors are reducible to certain properties of interest to science, or else nothing is really colored. What is novel about the work is that Watkins, unlike other Mooreans, takes seriously the metaphysics of colors. Consequently, Watkins provides an account of what colors are, how they are related to the physical properties on which they supervene, and how colors can be causally efficacious without the threat of causal overdetermination. Along the way, he provides novel accounts of normal conditions and non-human color properties. The book will be of interest to any metaphysician and philosopher of mind interested in colors and color perception.
Seventeenth-century French philosophers grappled with a lasting problem: how do we use qualities such as color, feel, and sound to locate objects in the world, even though these qualities are not real? Walter Ott explores the debate about perceptual experience, covering Descartes and Malebranche alongside their less known contemporaries.
ARTICLES: Patrick BRISSEY, Reasons for the Method in Descartes’ Discours Abstract: In the practical philosophy of the Discours de la Méthode, before the theoretical metaphysics of Part Four and the Meditationes, Descartes gives us an inductive argument that his method, the procedure and cognitive psychology, is veracious at its inception. His evidence, akin to his Scholastic predecessors, is God, a maximally perfect being, established an ontological foundation for knowledge such that reason and nature are isomorphic. Further, the method, he tells us, is a functional definition of human reason; that is, like other rationalists during this period, he holds the structure of reason maps onto ...
This volume explores the metaphysics of Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714-1762) and its decisive influence on Immanuel Kant. For over a century, scholars have recognized the significance of Baumgarten's Metaphysics, both because of its impact on Kant's intellectual development, and because of the way it fundamentally informed the work of generations of German philosophers, including Moses Mendelssohn, Thomas Abbt, Johann Gottfried Herder, Solomon Maimon, Johann August Eberhard, and arguably even Georg Friedrich Hegel. However, Baumgarten's Metaphysics has only recently become available in reliable German and English translations, so that many scholars have been excluded from the discussion and the significance of Baumgarten's work has remained largely unexplored. Thus with the appearance of these translations, interest in Baumgarten's work has surged among both. This volume aims to provide an anchor for this emerging discussion by presenting specially written essays by some of the scholars most responsible for Baumgarten's current reputation, together with some of the best young scholars in this emerging field.