Selections from the Principles of Philosophy - Softcover

Descartes, Rene

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9386874261 ISBN 13: 9789386874269

Verlag: Alpha Editions, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

Principles of Philosophy is a book by René Descartes. In essence it is a synthesis of the Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy It was written in Latin, published in 1644 and dedicated to Elisabeth of Bohemia, with whom Descartes had a long-standing friendship. A French version (Les Principes de la Philosophie) followed in 1647. It set forth the principles of nature--the Laws of Physics--as Descartes viewed them. Most notably, it set forth the principle that in the absence of external forces, an object's motion will be uniform and in a straight line. Newton borrowed this principle from Descartes and included it in his own Principia; to this day, it is still generally referred to as Newton's First Law of Motion. The book was primarily intended to replace the Aristotelian curriculum then used in French and British Universities. The work provides a systematic statement of his metaphysics and natural philosophy, and represents the first truly comprehensive, mechanistic account of the universe.

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René Descartes (1596-1650) was a pioneering metaphysician, a masterful mathematician, and a significant scientific thinker. He was primarily a mathematician throughout his life, followed by a natural scientist or "natural philosopher" and a metaphysician. He created the methods in mathematics that allowed for algebraic (or "analytic") geometry. He co-formulated the sine rule of refraction, created a significant empirical account of the rainbow, and proposed a naturalistic explanation for how the earth and planets formed in natural philosophy, among other notable accomplishments. A world of matter with a few basic properties and interacting according to a few universal principles was his new conception of the natural world, which has influenced how we think about it even today. Descartes created the contemporary interpretation of the mind-body problem by proposing that this natural world had an immaterial mind that was directly tied to the brain in humans. He offered proof for the existence of God in metaphysics, demonstrating that the nature of matter is an extension and the essence of the mind is thought. Early on, Descartes asserted that he had a unique method, which he later claimed to have used in metaphysics, natural philosophy, and many applications of mathematics.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Alpha Editions
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 9386874261
• ISBN 13: 9789386874269
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 98
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar