Manes ab ipsomet defensi. Querela Apologetica ad Amplissimum Magistratum Ultrajectinum, Quâ technae, calumniae, mendacia, falsorum testimonium fabricae, aliaque crimina Voetiorum & Dematii, plene reteguntur. Opusculum antea ineditum, nunc verò opponendum quotidianis Voetii & Voetianorum criminationibus. emiserunt. ( - Musicae compendium - Tractatus de homine)

DESCARTES, René

Published by Vristadii, apud Lancellotum Misopodem, 1656

About this Item

Sm.-4to. (2) lvs., 28 pp. With woodcut vignette to title. First separate edition, very rare. (BOND WITH:) DESCARTES, R.: Musicae compendium. Amsterdam, J. Janssonius 1656. Sm.-4to. (2) lvs., 34 pp., (1) leaf. (blank). Title with woodcut vignette. 2nd (?) edition, earlier than the 1st French one (Guibert records editions Amsterdam 1653 and Utrecht 1656 but he doesn't know any copy of these editions). (BOUND WITH:) DESCARTES, R.: Tractatus de homine, et de formatione foetus. Quorum prior Notis perpetuis Ludovici de la Forge, M.D. illustratur. Amsterdam, Elzevier 1677. Sm.-4to. (38) lvs., 239 pp., (1) p. (blank). Printer's device, c. 50 diagrams, all in woodcut. 5th Latin edition, 1st of Claude Clerselier's translation. Contemporary leather (slightly rubbed, head and foot of spine, corner, edges heavily rubbed, front joint partly broken), spine gilt, gilt stamped title to spine, small modern spine library label. I: In this short piece written in 1645, directed at the Magistrate of Utrecht, Descartes defends himself and his theories against the accusations made by Voetius and Dematius. Gisbert Voetius, an influential Calvinist preacher in Utrecht, had claimed that the meditationes de prima philosophia represented opinions of atheism. II: In 1618 Descartes had written the compendium musicae for the mathematician Isaak Beekmann and had presented him with the manuscript, together with his request that he keep it a secret; he arranged for its first publication in 1650. Descartes is regarded as the founder of "rationalised theory of emotions"; music can create emotions (in this context he was preoccupied with the degree of consonants in the major third and syncopation), knowledge of musical theory allows one the possibility of being able to control these emotions. These aspects are then pursued in more detail in Passions de l'âme. III: " Descartes developed his ideas concerning the physiology of man in detail primarily in Traité de l'homme, the discourse on man, first published 12 years after his death in Holland but translated into Latin and 14 years after his death published in France in the original French. This book explains the human body as a machine . purely mechanical down to the tiniest detail. Walking and swallowing, taste and smell, hearing and holding, digestion and sight - everything can be physically explained in this system, without requiring the hypothesis, which - following Descartes - does not explain anything but which simply leads to a mystification for the scientist of the so-called organisms, that in biology there exist both Soul' and Life', neither of which can be explained through the laws governing the anorganic world. Almost every physiological thesis,.that one finds in Descartes, has been found to be false; but seldom were mistakes so productive: medical progress was made by way of Cartesianism" (R. Specht, Descartes. Reinbeck 81998, p. 112). Slightly browned throughout (some lvs. heavily), somewhat brown-stained. I: Guibert 191; not in Tchemerzine. II: Guibert 184,4; MGG 3, Coll. 209/10; Tchemerzine IV, 307. III: Guibert 202, 6; Willems 1531.

Seller Inventory # 572

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Manes ab ipsomet defensi. Querela Apologetica ad Amplissimum Magistratum Ultrajectinum, Quâ technae, calumniae, mendacia, falsorum testimonium fabricae, aliaque crimina Voetiorum & Dematii, plene reteguntur. Opusculum antea ineditum, nunc verò opponendum quotidianis Voetii & Voetianorum criminationibus. emiserunt. ( - Musicae compendium - Tractatus de homine)
• Publisher: Vristadii, apud Lancellotum Misopodem
• Publication Date: 1656
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1. Auflage
• Condition: Gut