The Breakdown of Cartesian Metaphysics

Richard A. Watson

ISBN 10: 0872204065 / ISBN 13: 9780872204065

Published by Hackett Publishing Co, Inc, 1998

About this Item

Combines historical research and philosophical analysis to cast light on why and how Cartesianism failed as a complete metaphysical system. This title argues that Descartes' ontology is incoherent and vacuous, his epistemology deceptive, and his theology unorthodox - indeed, that 'Descartes knows nothing'. Num Pages: 256 pages. BIC Classification: HPC; HPJ. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational; (UP) Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly; (UU) Undergraduate. Dimension: 229 x 150 x 13. Weight in Grams: 342. . 1998. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780872204065

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Breakdown of Cartesian Metaphysics
• Publisher: Hackett Publishing Co, Inc
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0872204065
• ISBN 13: 9780872204065
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Combines historical research and philosophical analysis to cast light on why and how Cartesianism failed as a complete metaphysical system. Far more radical in its conclusions than his 1966 study The Downfall of Cartesianism (a slightly revised version of which forms the main body of the current work), Watson argues that Descartes's ontology is incoherent and vacuous, his epistemology deceptive, and his theology unorthodox--indeed, that Descartes knows nothing.

Review

Original and stimulating. . . . The four new chapters deserve close attention. . . . Readers will await further studies by Richard A. Watson all the more impatiently. --Jean-Luc Marion, Archives de Philosophie

Downfall is required reading for anyone doing early modern philosophy, and its reappearance is welcome and long overdue. --Steven Nadler, International Studies in Philosophy