PHILOSOPHICAL READING Descartes Meditations: A Critical Guide,Karen Detlefsen (ed.), Cambridge University Press, 2013. Reviewed by Michael Della Rocca, Yale University What explains the continuing power the Meditations has over us, its ability to shape our ways of philosophical thinking even today? As influential as Descartes arguments have been, it is certainly not the rational compellingness of those arguments that gives the book its exalted place in philosophy. And while Descartes departures from Aristotelian philosophy (to the extent that he broke with it) are historically and philosophically important, they do little to explain the lasting and powerful attraction of the Meditations. I will return to this mysterious power at the end of this review. But first I want to show how the many fine and well-selected essays in Karen Detlefsens volume collectively confirm the widespread conviction that engagement with Descartes remains vital to philosophy.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 16:23:19 +0000
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