Front cover image for Meditations on first philosophy : with selections from the Objections and Replies

Meditations on first philosophy : with selections from the Objections and Replies

The Meditations, one of the key texts of Western philosophy, is the most widely studied of all Descartes' writings. This authoritative translation by John Cottingham, taken from the much acclaimed three-volume Cambridge edition of the Philosophical Writings of Descartes, is based upon the best available texts and presents Descartes' central metaphysical writings in clear, readable modern English. As well as the complete text of the Meditations, the reader will find a thematic abridgement of the Objections and Replies (which were originally published with the Meditations) containing Descartes' replies to his critics. These extracts, specially selected for the present volume, indicate the main philosophical difficulties which occurred to Descartes' contemporaries and show how Descartes developed and clarified his arguments in response. This edition contains a new comprehensive introduction to Descartes' philosophy by John Cottingham and the classic introductory essay on the Meditations by Bernard Williams
Print Book, English, 1996
Cambridge University Press, New York, 1996
Early works to 1800
xlvi, 120 pages ; 24 cm
9780521552523, 9780521558181, 0521552524, 0521558182
32272362
What can be called into doubt
The nature of the human mind, and how it is better known than the body
The existence of God
Truth and falsity
The essence of material things, and the existence of God considered a second time
The existence of material things, and the real distinction between mind and body. Selections from the objections and replies : The rejection of previous beliefs
The reliability of the senses
The dreaming argument
Centainty in dreams
Cogito ergo sum ('I am thinking, therefore I exist')
Sum res cogitans ('I am a thinking thing')
The nature of thought
The piece of wax
Innate ideas
The idea of God
Objective reality
God, author of my existence
The cause of error
The indifference of the will
Whether God's essence implies his existence
Clear and distinct perception and the 'Cartesian circle'
The real distinction between mind and body
Translation of: Meditationes de prima philosophia [and] Adjectae sunt variae objectiones-- cum responsionibus authoris