1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910455064003321

Autore

Gaukroger Stephen

Titolo

Descartes' system of natural philosophy / / Stephen Gaukroger [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2002

ISBN

1-107-12486-7

0-521-00525-6

9786610419333

0-511-32945-8

1-280-41933-4

0-511-17619-8

0-511-04478-X

0-511-60622-2

0-511-15694-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (viii, 258 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Disciplina

194

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 247-254) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Half-title; Title; Copyright; Contents; Preface; References to Descartes' works; Introduction; CHAPTER 1 Before the Principia; CHAPTER 2 The Principia and the Scholastic textbook tradition; CHAPTER 3 Principia, Part I: The principles of knowledge; CHAPTER 4 Principia, Part II: The principles of material objects; CHAPTER 5 Principia, Part III: The visible universe; CHAPTER 6 Principia, Part IV: The Earth; CHAPTER 7 Principia, Part V: Living things; CHAPTER 8 Principia, Part VI: Man; Bibliography; Index

Sommario/riassunto

Towards the end of his life, Descartes published the first four parts of a projected six-part work, The Principles of Philosophy. This was intended to be the definitive statement of his complete system of philosophy, dealing with everything from cosmology to the nature of human happiness. In this book, Stephen Gaukroger examines the whole system, and reconstructs the last two parts, 'On Living Things' and 'On



Man', from Descartes' other writings. He relates the work to the tradition of late Scholastic textbooks which it follows, and also to Descartes' other philosophical writings, and he examines the ways in which Descartes transformed not only the practice of natural philosophy but also our understanding of what it is to be a philosopher. His book is a comprehensive examination of Descartes' complete philosophical system.