Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 194 EAN: 9781591021025 ISBN: 1591021022 Label: Humanity Books Manufacturer: Humanity Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 248 Publication Date: 2003-11 Publisher: Humanity Books Sales Rank: 1386289 Studio: Humanity Books
Editorial Review:
Book DescriptionFrench philosophy in the latter half of the seventeenth century was dominated by reactions to Rene Descartes. So influential was his philosophical legacy that it was practically impossible to write or discuss philosophy without taking a position in regard to the Cartesian worldview. Most later philosophers either adapted Descartes's approach to fit other points of view or they criticized aspects of Descartes's philocophy that were perceived to threaten more traditional approaches to philosophy.
In the latter camp is the 'Censura Philosophiae Cartesianae', written in Latin by Pierre-Daniel Huet (1630-1721), an erudite cleric, teacher, philosopher, and scientist, and one of the most accomplished intellectuals of the age. In the first-ever English translation of the 'Censura', Thomas M. Lennon has done both historians and philosophers a great service by presenting this fully annotated edition of Huet's magnum opus.
The 'Censura' is the most comprehensive, unrelenting, and devastating critique of Descartes ever published. Anticipating the issues that have occupied Cartesian scholarship for the past half-century, Huet argues at length that Descartes's philosophy fails on many counts: his methodology of doubting; the reliability of his famous 'cogita' ('I think, therefore I am'); clarity and distinctness as criteria of truth; his proofs for the existence of God; the circularity of his main argument in the 'Meditations'; and numerous other points.
Complete with an extensive introduction explaining the circumstances, history, and importance of the work; a brief biography of its fascinating author; and helpful scholarly annotations; this translation of Huet's 'Censura' brings to light an important philosophical work that has been neglected for more than three hundred years.
This is the first volume in the new JHP Books series, published in cooperation with the 'Journal of the History of Philosophy.'
