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Descartes

The Project of Pure Enquiry
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Descartes by Bernard Williams offers a classic and challenging introduction to the philosophy of the 'father of modern philosophy'. This work explores Descartes' foundational quest for certain knowledge and his reconciliation of the soul with emerging science. Williams provides acute insight into how Meditations represent not just a philosophical account but the active process of discovery, covering key areas such as God, the will, knowledge, and the mind's place in nature.
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Format: Hardback
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This book is ideal for students and readers interested in philosophy, particularly those keen on epistemology, metaphysics, and the history of modern philosophical thought.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Descartes has often been called the father of modern philosophy. His attempts to find foundations for knowledge, and to reconcile the existence of the soul with the emerging science of his time, are among the most influential and widely studied in the history of philosophy.

This is a classic and challenging introduction to Descartes by one of the most distinguished modern philosophers. Bernard Williams not only analyzes Descartes' project of founding knowledge on certainty, but uncovers the philosophical motives for his search. With acute insight, he demonstrates how Descartes' Meditations are not merely a description but the very enactment of philosophical thought and discovery.

Williams covers all of the key areas of Descartes' thought, including God, the will, the possibility of knowledge, and the mind and its place in nature. He also makes profound contributions to the theory of knowledge, metaphysics, and philosophy generally.

With a new foreword by John Cottingham.

Series: Routledge Classics

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781138132085

Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 26 November 2015

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Routledge

Audience: Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 453g

Pages: 328

About the Author

Bernard Williams died in 2003. He taught at the Universities of London, Cambridge and Oxford and the University of California at Berkeley, and was one of the leading philosophers of his generation. He wrote many influential books including Problems of the Self and Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy (also available in Routledge Classics). His last major work was Truth and Truthfulness: An Essay in Genealogy (2002).

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    What does it mean to be truthful? What role does truth play in our lives? What do we lose if we reject truthfulness? No philosopher is better suited to answer these questions than Bernard Williams. Writing with his characteristic combination of passion and elegant simplicity, he explores the value of truth and finds it to be both less and more...
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  • Shame and Necessity, Second Edition
    We tend to suppose that the ancient Greeks had primitive ideas of the self, of responsibility, freedom, and shame, and that now humanity has advanced from these to a more refined moral consciousness. Bernard Williams's original and radical book questions this picture of Western history. While we are in many ways different from the Greeks, Williams claims that the differences...
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