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In this Handbook twenty-six leading scholars survey the development of philosophy between the middle of the sixteenth century and the early eighteenth century. The five parts of the book cover metaphysics and natural philosophy; the mind, the passions, and aesthetics; epistemology, logic, mathematics, and language; ethics and political philosophy; and religion.The period between the publication of Copernicus's De Revolutionibus and Berkeley's
reflections on Newton and Locke saw one of the most fundamental changes in the history of our way of thinking about the universe. This radical transformation of worldview was partly a response to what we now call
the Scientific Revolution; it was equally a reflection of political changes that were no less fundamental, which included the establishment of nation-states and some of the first attempts to formulate a theory of international rights and justice. Finally, the Reformation and its aftermath undermined the apparent unity of the Christian church in Europe and challenged both religious beliefs that had been accepted for centuries and the interpretation of the Bible on which they had been
based.The Handbook surveys a number of the most important developments in the philosophy of the period, as these are expounded both in texts that have since become very familiar and in other
philosophical texts that are undeservedly less well-known. It also reaches beyond the philosophy to make evident the fluidity of the boundary with science, and to consider the impact on philosophy of historical and political events--explorations, revolutions and reforms, inventions and discoveries. Thus it not only offers a guide to the most important areas of recent research, but also offers some new questions for historians of philosophy to pursue and to have indicated areas that are ripe for
further exploration.
In this Handbook twenty-six leading scholars survey the development of philosophy between the middle of the sixteenth century and the early eighteenth century. The five parts of the book cover metaphysics and natural philosophy; the mind, the passions, and aesthetics; epistemology, logic, mathematics, and language; ethics and political philosophy; and religion.The period between the publication of Copernicus's De Revolutionibus and Berkeley's
reflections on Newton and Locke saw one of the most fundamental changes in the history of our way of thinking about the universe. This radical transformation of worldview was partly a response to what we now call
the Scientific Revolution; it was equally a reflection of political changes that were no less fundamental, which included the establishment of nation-states and some of the first attempts to formulate a theory of international rights and justice. Finally, the Reformation and its aftermath undermined the apparent unity of the Christian church in Europe and challenged both religious beliefs that had been accepted for centuries and the interpretation of the Bible on which they had been
based.The Handbook surveys a number of the most important developments in the philosophy of the period, as these are expounded both in texts that have since become very familiar and in other
philosophical texts that are undeservedly less well-known. It also reaches beyond the philosophy to make evident the fluidity of the boundary with science, and to consider the impact on philosophy of historical and political events--explorations, revolutions and reforms, inventions and discoveries. Thus it not only offers a guide to the most important areas of recent research, but also offers some new questions for historians of philosophy to pursue and to have indicated areas that are ripe for
further exploration.
Notes on the Contributors
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I: Metaphysics and Natural Philosophy
1: Peter R. Anstey: Essences and Kinds
2: Tad M. Schmaltz: From Causes to Laws
3: Emily Grosholz: Space and Time
4: Helen Hattab: The Mechanical Philosophy
5: Justin E. H. Smith: Machines, Souls, and Vital Principles
Part II: The Mind, the Passions, and Aesthetics
6: R. W. Serjeantson: The Soul
7: Pauline Phemister: Ideas
8: Philippe Hamou: Qualities and Sensory Perception
9: Gabor Boros: The Passions
10: Alexander Rueger: Aesthetics
Part III: Epistemology, Logic, Mathematics and Language
11: José R. Maia Neto: Sceptisism
12: Desmond M. Clarke: Hypotheses
13: Jaap Maat: Language and Semiotics
14: Mary Tiles: Form, Reason, and Method
15: Jean-François Gauvin: Instruments of Knowledge
16: Stephen Gaukroger: Picturability and Mathematical Ideals of
Knowledge
Part IV: Ethics and Political Philosophy
17: P. J. E. Kail: Virtue and Vice
18: Stephen Darwall: Egoism and Morality
19: Catherine Wilson: Realism and Relativism in Ethics
20: Paul Russell: The Free Will Problem
21: Eileen O'Neill: The Equality of Men and Women
22: Ian Hunter: Natural Law as Political Philosophy
23: Ursula Goldenbaum: Sovereignty and Obedience
Part V: Religion
24: Steven Nadler: Conceptions of God
25: Desmond M. Clarke: The Epistemology of Religious Belief
26: Philip Milton: Religious Toleration
Desmond M. Clarke is Professor (emeritus) of Philosophy at
University College Cork, and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
He is general editor (with Karl Ameriks) of Cambridge Texts in the
History of Philosophy; his recent monographs include Descartes's
Theory of Mind (OUP, 2003) and Descartes: A Biography (CUP, 2006).
His translations include a two-volume edition of Descartes for
Penguin. Catherine Wilson is Regius Professor of Moral
Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen. She is the author of
Epicureanism at the Origins of Modernity (OUP, 2008), Descartes's
Meditations: An Introduction (CUP, 2003), and the recently
reprinted The Invisible World: Early
Modern Philosophy and the Invention of the Microscope (Princeton
2009). She was editor of History of Philosophy Quarterly from 1998
to 2003.
`a wonderful guide to the general contours of philosophical
thinking in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, valuable for
advanced undergraduates through to seasoned scholars of early
modern thought ... There are many excellent essays that will bear
intellectual fruit through multiple readings.'
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
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