Descartes and the Ontology of Everyday Life

Brown and Normore show how Descartes accounted for the complex and diverse objects of human experience within his metaphysical system. They argue that, far from reducing them all to two basic categories of substance, mind and body, he recognized irreducible composites that resist reduction and require their own distinctive modes of explanation.

List of contents

• Introduction


• 1: The World as Descartes Found It


• 2: Bodies


• 3: Automata


• 4: Systems and Functions


• 5: Lifeblood


• 6: The State of the Union


• 7: Larger than Life

About the author

Deborah J. Brown is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Queensland. She is the author of Descartes and the Passionate Mind (Cambridge 2006) and numerous articles on the philosophy of Descartes.

Calvin G. Normore is the Brian P. Copenhaver Professor of Philosophy at UCLA. He assisted in producing the Past Masters electronic edition of René Descartes' collected works (Oeuvres Complètes de René Descartes) and is a specialist in medieval philosophy with a particular interest in its aftermath.

Summary

Brown and Normore show how Descartes accounted for the complex and diverse objects of human experience within his metaphysical system. They argue that, far from reducing them all to two basic categories of substance, mind and body, he recognized irreducible composites that resist reduction and require their own distinctive modes of explanation.

Additional text

An outstanding contribution.

Product details

• Authors: Deborah J. Brown, Deborah J. (Professor in Philosophy Brown, Deborah J. (University of Queensland) Normo Brown, Brown Deborah J., Calvin G. Normore, Calvin G. (Professor of Philosophy Normore, Normore Calvin G.
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.10.2019
• EAN: 9780198836810
• ISBN: 978-0-19-883681-0
• No. of pages: 266
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: antiquity to present day; SCIENCE / History, PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / Modern, PHILOSOPHY / Metaphysics, History of Science, Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology, Philosophy: metaphysics and ontology, Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900, Philosophical traditions and schools of thought