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Descartes

The Renewal of Philosophy
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 Steven Nadler is a compelling biography that explores the life and thought of the influential philosopher René Descartes. Nadler examines Descartes' philosophical journey, from his quest for certainty to his pivotal contributions to the development of modern scientific and philosophical thought. The book delves into the historical and intellectual context of Descartes' work, offering readers insight into the mind of a man who sought to redefine the nature of knowledge and existence.
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Format: Hardback
$7100

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're keen on exploring the life and intellect of one of history's greatest philosophers. It offers an engaging look at the personal and intellectual journey of a man whose ideas have shaped modern thought. You'll appreciate the thorough research and accessible writing that bring the subject to life in a compelling and enlightening way.

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Shows how René Descartes transformed philosophy.

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

A critical biography of René Descartes, whose first principle ("I think therefore I am.") reshaped modern philosophy.

Often called 'the father of modern philosophy', René Descartes' contributions to philosophy, mathematics, and natural science set the intellectual agenda for the seventeenth century. In this biography and assessment of his works, based on the most up-to-date research, Steven Nadler follows Descartes from his early years and education in France to the Dutch Republic, where he lived most of his adult life, to his final months as tutor to Queen Christina of Sweden.

Nadler shows how Descartes' 'renewal' of philosophy involved a transformation in both the way philosophy is done and the fundamental understanding of the cosmos, the natural world, and human nature. His work served as a springboard for many of the metaphysical and epistemological problems that continue to engage philosophers today.

Steven Nadler's outstanding biography achieves a fine balance of life, ideas, and context, allowing Descartes's philosophy to emerge from its eclectic seventeenth-century milieu in all its dazzling originality and strangeness. Lucid, compelling, and unfailingly judicious, this is a marvellous new study of a magisterial modern thinker. - Clare Carlisle Tresch, King's College London

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Descartes by Steven Nadler has been praised for its ability to portray Descartes in a fully human context, intertwining his achievements with the social, political, and personal milieu of his time. The biography successfully balances Descartes's life, philosophy, and the historical context, allowing the originality and strangeness of his thought to shine. The inclusion of portraits further enhances the humanizing approach of the study.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781789146837

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 01 February 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Reaktion Books

Illustration: 25 illustrations, 12 in colour

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 138.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 288

About the Author

Steven Nadler is Vilas Research Professor and the William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his books include Think Least of Death: Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die.

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