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Zusatztext De Rosa's book presents an interesting thesis... It also addresses a wide range of Cartesian texts, and provides a useful entrée into the complex literature on Cartesian sensation theory... It should promote discussion of a topic that Hume rightly considered indispensible to an in-depth understanding of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophy. Informationen zum Autor Raffaella De Rosa is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. Klappentext Raffaella De Rosa discusses the theory of sensory perception! especially color perception! offered by Ren¿escartes. She offers a detailed overview of the recent literature on the topic and provides a new reading of Descartes' theory; she also raises questions of great interest in the contemporary philosophy of mind and cognitive science. Zusammenfassung While much has been written on Descartes' theory of mind and ideas, no systematic study of his theory of sensory representation and misrepresentation is currently available in the literature. Descartes and the Puzzle of Sensory Misrepresentation is an ambitious attempt to fill this gap. It argues against the established view that Cartesian sensations are mere qualia by defending the view that they are representational; it offers a descriptivist-causal account of their representationality that is critical of, and differs from, all other extant accounts (such as, for example, causal, teleofunctional and purely internalist accounts); and it has the advantage of providing an adequate solution to the problem of sensory misrepresentation within Descartes' internalist theory of ideas. In sum, the book offers a novel account of the representationality of Cartesian sensations; provides a panoramic overview, and critical assessment, of the scholarly literature on this issue; and places Descartes' theory of sensation in the central position it deserves among the philosophical and scientific investigations of the workings of the human mind. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface Acknowledgements Abbreviations 1: Overview 2: Descartes' Account of Ideas and the Puzzle of Sensory Misrepresentation 3: Non-Representationalist Solutions: Cartesian Sensations as Qualia 4: Externalist Solutions: Causal Accounts 5: Externalist Solutions: Teleofunctional Accounts 6: A Descriptivist-Causal Account and the Solution of the Puzzle of Sensory Misrepresentation 7: Objections and Replies 8: Conclusion References ...
