Description

Book 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.



Trade 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

The Breakdown of Cartesian Metaphysics

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    A Hardback by Richard A. Watson

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      Book details

      Publisher Hackett Publishing Co, Inc
      Published 15 March 1998
      ISBN-13 9780872204072
      978-0872204072
      ISBN-10 872204073
      Also in:
      Philosophy

      Description

      Book 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.



      Trade 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

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