Descartes and Augustine

Abstract

This book is a systematic study of Descartes' relation to Augustine. It offers a complete reevaluation of Descartes' thought and as such will be of major importance to all historians of medieval, neo-Platonic, or early modern philosophy. Stephen Menn demonstrates that Descartes uses Augustine's central ideas as a point of departure for a critique of medieval Aristotelian physics, which he replaces with a new, mechanistic anti-Aristotelian physics. Special features of the book include a reading of the Meditations, a comprehensive historical and philosophical introduction to Augustine's thought, a detailed account of Plotinus, and a contextualization of Descartes' mature philosophical project which explores both the framework within which it evolved and the early writings, to show how the collapse of the early project drove Descartes to the writings of Augustine.

Descartes' Resolution of the Dreaming Doubt

“…10 10 My discussion of Descartes' position at the beginning of the Sixth Meditation and his goals for it coincide substantially with those of Stephen Menn (1998, pp. 366–80). …”

Responsibility in Descartes’s Theory of Judgment

“…Menn (1998: 302). 10. in addition to gilson (1913) and Menn (1998), see also Caton (1975) and ariew, Des Chene, Jesseph, Schmaltz, and Verbeek (2003: 148) for examples of the standard interpretation.…”

Descartes as an Ethical Perfectionist

“…I will not pursue the historical origins any further in this paper, however; nor will I pause to consider in what respects Descartes's version of it differ from the versions held by his predecessors. For a masterful treatment of the similarities and differences between the philosophies of Descartes and Augustine, seeMenn (1998). 13 See, e.g., the Third Meditation: 'what is more perfect … contains in itself more reality' (CSM 2:28/AT 7:40).…”