-
321Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources (edited book)Hackett Pub. Co.. 2009.The leading anthology of its kind, this volume provides the key works of seven major philosophers, along with a rich selection of associated texts by other ...
-
196Descartes and the tree of knowledgeSynthese 92 (1). 1992.Descartes' image of the tree of knowledge from the preface to the French edition of the Principles of Philosophy is usually taken to represent Descartes' break with the past and with the fragmentation of knowledge of the schools. But if Descartes' tree of knowledge is analyzed in its proper context, another interpretation emerges. A series of contrasts with other classifications of knowledge from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries raises some puzzles: claims of originality and radical brea…Read more
-
129Descartes and PascalPerspectives on Science 15 (4): 397-409. 2007.There is a popular view that Descartes and Pascal were antagonists. I argue instead that Pascal was a Cartesian, in the manner of other Cartesians in the seventeenth century. That does not, of course, mean that Pascal accepted everything Descartes asserted, given that there were Cartesian atomists, for example, when Descartes was a plenist and anti-atomist. Pascal himself was a vacuuist and thus in opposition to Descartes in that respect, but he did accept some of the more distinctive and contro…Read more
-
119Descartes and His Contemporaries: Meditations, Objections, and Replies (edited book)University of Chicago Press. 1995.Before publishing his landmark _Meditations_ in 1641, Rene Descartes sent his manuscript to many leading thinkers to solicit their objections to his arguments. He included these objections, along with his own detailed replies, as part of the first edition. This unusual strategy gave Descartes a chance to address criticisms in advance and to demonstrate his willingness to consider diverse viewpoints—critical in an age when radical ideas could result in condemnation by church and state, or even de…Read more
-
96Descartes as critic of Galileo's scientific methodologySynthese 67 (1). 1986.Some philosophers of science suggest that philosophical assumptions must influence historical scholarship, because history (like science) has no neutral data and because the treatment of any particular historical episode is going to be influenced to some degree by one's prior philosophical conceptions of what is important in science. However, if the history of science must be laden with philosophical assumptions, then how can the history of science be evidence for the philosophy of science? Woul…Read more
-
84G. W. Leibniz Philosophical Essays (edited book)Hackett. 1989.Although Leibniz's writing forms an enormous corpus, no single work stands as a canonical expression of his whole philosophy. In addition, the wide range of Leibniz's work--letters, published papers, and fragments on a variety of philosophical, religious, mathematical, and scientific questions over a fifty-year period--heightens the challenge of preparing an edition of his writings in English translation from the French and Latin.
-
72Galileo's lunar observations in the context of medieval lunar theoryStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 15 (3): 213-226. 1984.
-
64Descartes and the last ScholasticsCornell University Press. 1999.The volume touches upon many topics and themes shared by Cartesian and late scholastic philosophy: matter and form; infinity, place, time, void, and motion; the ...
-
54Descartes and the First CartesiansOxford University Press. 2014.Roger Ariew presents a new account of Descartes as a philosopher who sought to engage his contemporaries and society. He argues that the Principles of Philosophy was written to rival Scholastic textbooks, and considers Descartes' enterprise in contrast to the tradition it was designed to replace and in relation to the works of the first Cartesians
-
53Readings in Modern Philosophy, Volume 1: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz and Associated Texts (edited book)Hackett Publishing Company. 2000.This anthology offers the key works of Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz in their entirety or in substantial selections, along with a rich selection of associated texts by other leading thinkers of the period.
-
52The Infinite in Descartes' Conversation with BurmanArchiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 69 (2): 140-163. 1987.
-
52Descartes' Meditations: Background Source Materials (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 1998.No single text could be considered more important in the history of philosophy than Descartes' Meditations. This unique collection of background material to this magisterial philosophical text has been translated from the original French and Latin. The texts gathered here illustrate the kinds of principles, assumptions, and philosophical methods that were commonplace when Descartes was growing up. The selections are from: Francisco Sanches, Christopher Clavius, Pierre de la Ramee, Francisco Suár…Read more
-
52Leibniz On the Unicorn and Various Other CuriositiesEarly Science and Medicine 3 (4): 267-288. 1998.I discuss some of Leibniz's pronouncements about fringe phenomena__various monsters; talking dogs; genies and prophets; unicorns, glossopetrae, and other games of nature__in order to understand better Leibniz's views on science and the role these curiosities play in his plans for scientific academies and societies. However, given that Leibniz's sincerity has been called into question in twentieth-century secondary literature, I begin with a few historiographical remarks so as to situate these pr…Read more
-
51Leibniz and Clarke: CorrespondenceHackett Publishing Company. 2000.For this new edition, Roger Ariew has adapted Samuel Clarke's edition of 1717, modernizing it to reflect contemporary English usage. Ariew's introduction places the correspondence in historical context and discusses the vibrant philosophical climate of the times. Appendices provide those selections from the works of Newton that Clarke frequently refers to in the correspondence. A bibliography is also included.
-
48Two new DescartesBritish Journal for the History of Philosophy 5 (1). 1997.Descartes. An Intellectual Biography by Stephen Gaukroger, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995. xx + 499pp. 25.00 ISBN 0-19-823994-7 Descartes. Biographie by Gen vieve Rodis-Lewis, Calmann-L vy, Paris, 1995. 371pp.
-
47The Art of Philosophy: Visual Thinking in Europe from the late Renaissance to the Early Enlightenment, by Susanna BergerMind 127 (508): 1219-1229. 2018.© Mind Association 2018Some time ago I was at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris investigating the teaching of philosophy during Descartes’ time. Fine monographs had already been published on the various regimens and practices at Descartes’ college at La Flèche, and Jesuit institutions in general, as well as the collegiate curriculum in seventeenth-century France. But as interested as I was in the form of the teaching—how philosophy was taught, where, and when—I was more interested in its conte…Read more
-
45The initial response to Galileo's lunar observationsStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 32 (3): 571-581. 2001.
-
44Mind-body interaction in cartesian philosophy: A reply to GarberSouthern Journal of Philosophy 21 (S1): 33-37. 1983.
-
42Duhem on Maxwell: A Case-Study in the Interrelations of History of Science and Philosophy of SciencePSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1986. 1986.We examine Duhem's critique of Maxwell, especially Duhem's complaints that Maxwell's theory is too bold or not systematic enough, that it is too dependent on models, and that its concepts are not continuous with those of the past. We argue that these complaints are connected by Duhem's historical criterion for the evaluation of physical theories. We briefly compare Duhem's criterion of historical continuity with similar criteria developed by "historicists" like Kuhn and Lakatos. We argue that Du…Read more
-
38Descartes among the ScholasticsBrill. 2011.Descartes and the last Scholastics: objections and replies -- Descartes and the Scotists -- Ideas, before and after Descartes -- The Cartesian destiny of form and matter -- Descartes, Basso, and Toletus: three kinds of Corpuscularians -- Scholastics and the new astronomy on the substance of the heavens -- Descartes and the Jesuits of La Fleche: the Eucharist -- Condemnations of Cartesianism: the extension and unity of the universe -- Cartesians, Gassendists, and censorship -- The cogito in the s…Read more
-
38Christopher Clavius and the Classification of SciencesSynthese 83 (2). 1990.I discuss two questions: (1) would Duhem have accepted the thesis of the continuity of scientific methodology? and (2) to what extent is the Oxford tradition of classification/subalternation of sciences continuous with early modern science? I argue that Duhem would have been surprised by the claim that scientific methodology is continuous; he expected at best only a continuity of physical theories, which he was trying to isolate from the perpetual fluctuations of methods and metaphysics. I also …Read more
-
37Steven M. Nadler, "Arnauld and the Cartesian Philosophy of Ideas" (review)Journal of the History of Philosophy 29 (4): 677. 1991.
-
36The Nature of Cartesian LogicPerspectives on Science 29 (3): 275-291. 2021.I argue that Descartes and the Cartesians are likely in agreement that logic is an ars cogitandi whose aim is to perfect the ingenium by the exercise of its operations: ideating, judging, discoursing, and ordering. We can see that these elements are the underpinning of both the Regulae and the Discourse on Method, and thus, like Adrien Baillet and others in the seventeenth century, we can understand these two works as embodying Descartes’ “logic,” despite Descartes’ notorious anti-logic Renaissa…Read more
-
35Descartes, les premiers cartésiens et la logiqueRevue de Métaphysique et de Morale 1 (1): 55-71. 2006.
Tampa, Florida, United States of America
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Physical Science |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |