Descartes and the Enlightenment

✍ Scribed by Peter A. Schouls

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 207
• Series: McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Ideas; 13
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Peter Schouls examines the role played by the concepts of freedom, mastery, and progress in Descartes' writings, arguing that these ideas express a vital and fundamental feature of Descartes' thought. These theories also occupy a central position in the thought of the Enlightenment. Since the more contentious claim is that they function centrally in Descartes' works, Schouls presents a careful and detailed examination of the conjunction and use of these ideas in Descartes' writings. This examination warrants the conclusion that they play the same role in Descartes' works as they do in writings typical of the Enlightenment.

✦ Table of Contents

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Introduction
I: Escape from Bondage
II: Reason and Free Will
III: Descartes and the Enlightenment
IV: Autonomy and Spontaneity
V: Freedom, Mastery, and Progress
VI: Progress and Enlightenment
VII: Self-Mastery
VIII: Mastery, Method, and Enlightenment
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
P
R
S
T
U
V
W