Meditations on First Philosophy and Other Metaphysical Writings by Ren Descartes

Meditations on First Philosophy and Other Metaphysical Writings by Ren Descartes

This elegant collector's edition presents Jean-Jacques Rousseau's classic philosophical work, Meditations on First Philosophy, featuring gold cover embossing and gilded page-edges.

The Meditations on First Philosophy is one of Descartes's best-known works and one of the most influential philosophical texts ever written. This treatise offers Descartes' metaphysical views on the relationship between the mind and thought, the nature of reality and how accumulated knowledge and our experiences affect us.

First published in 1641, the work consists of six meditations on the following topics: the dubiousness of thoughts and assumptions - as Descartes puts it, 'what can be called into doubt'; the nature of the human mind; the existence of God; truth versus falsehood; the essence of material things and, finally, the difference between mind and body. For anyone interested in the study of philosophy, this is an essential and illuminating read.

This beautiful pocket-sized gift edition contains the classic and unabridged text, presented with a gold embossed cover design, ivory pages, beautifully designed endpapers and gold gilded page edges. Part of the Arcturus Ornate Classics series, this book makes wonderful gift for any philosophy lover.

ABOUT THE SERIES: Arcturus Ornate Classics are beautifully bound editions of iconic literary works across history. These compact, foil-embossed hardbacks are printed using deluxe ivory paper and make the perfect gift.

Descartes, Renü¾Ž–”¼: - Renü¾Ž–”¼ Descartes ( 31 March 1596 - 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. A native of the Kingdom of France, he spent about 20 years (1629-1649) of his life in the Dutch Republic after serving for a while in the Dutch States Army of Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange and the Stadtholder of the United Provinces. One of the most notable intellectual figures of the Dutch Golden Age, [20] Descartes is also widely regarded as one of the founders of modern philosophy. Many elements of Descartes' philosophy have precedents in late Aristotelianism, the revived Stoicism of the 16th century, or in earlier philosophers like Augustine. In his natural philosophy, he differed from the schools on two major points: first, he rejected the splitting of corporeal substance into matter and form; second, he rejected any appeal to final ends, divine or natural, in explaining natural phenomena.[21] In his theology, he insists on the absolute freedom of God's act of creation. Refusing to accept the authority of previous philosophers, Descartes frequently set his views apart from the philosophers who preceded him. In the opening section of the Passions of the Soul, an early modern treatise on emotions, Descartes goes so far as to assert that he will write on this topic as if no one had written on these matters before. His best known philosophical statement is I think, therefore I am (French: Je pense, donc je suis; Latin: cogito, ergo sum), found in Discourse on the Method (1637; written in French and Latin) and Principles of Philosophy (1644; written in Latin).[22] Descartes laid the foundation for 17th-century continental rationalism, later advocated by Spinoza and Leibniz, and was later opposed by the empiricist school of thought consisting of Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. Leibniz, Spinoza, [23] and Descartes were all well-versed in mathematics as well as philosophy, and Descartes and Leibniz contributed greatly to science as well.[24] Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) continues to be a standard text at most university philosophy departments. Descartes' influence in mathematics is equally apparent; the Cartesian coordinate system was named after him. He is credited as the father of analytical geometry, the bridge between algebra and geometry-used in the discovery of infinitesimal calculus and analysis. Descartes was also one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781398851283
ISBN 10	1398851280
Title	Meditations on First Philosophy and Other Metaphysical Writings
Author	Ren Descartes
Series	Arcturus Ornate Classics
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Sirius Entertainment
Year published	2025-04-01
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.