Cartesianism

The Cartesianism indicates a philosophical current which claims principles and theses of the thought of Descartes (1596 - 1650).

The Cartesianism was particularly manisfesté through the first philosophical work published in French language, celebrates it Discourse on Method (1637), subtitle “for leading its reason well and seeking the truth in sciences”.

The Cartesianism is a philosophy Rationaliste.

Description

Context of the birth of the Cartesianism

For including/understanding well the characteristics of the philosophy of Descartes, it is necessary to reconsider the context in which this philosophy was elaborate.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the scientific world and philosophical was plunged in the Controverse ptolemeo-copernician. The emergent theory of the Héliocentrisme upset certain principles established in the Université S.

The largest scientists and philosophers of the time exchanged on these questions through networks of correspondence which were organized around some personalities (Marin Mersenne, Peiresc). Marin Mersenne, which gathered the objections on the Méditations on philosophy first near the great minds of this time, had published a few years before (1623) a work entitled Questions about the Genesis , in which he criticized the Christian Kabbale violently and Pic of Mirandole, work which answered Jacques Gaffarel.

Another element of the context would be the order of Rosicrucian brotherhood, whose existence is discussed.

Descartes, which exchanged a correspondence with Marin Mersenne, worked out the essence of its philosophy in reaction to the lawsuit of Galileo (1633). After having received the Dialog on the two great systems of the world , which was the subject of the judgment, Descartes gave up publishing its own treaty of physique entitled Traité world and light . The result of the lawsuit pushed Descartes to direct its career towards the Philosophie. The Discourse on Method (1637), first works purely philosophical of Descartes, and first philosophical work written in French language, was written a few years later.

General characteristics

Roughly speaking , Cartesian philosophy rests on some Postulat S simple that one can summarize in the following way:

  • the man can reach the universal Connaissance by the Raison.
It employs for that all the resources of sound Intelligence, initially the “obvious Intuition” and the Déduction, but also the Imagination, the Sens, and the Mémoire ( Rules for the direction of the spirit );
  • the man is a “thinking Substance”.
This is expressed by famous the Cogito ergo sum , exposed in the Discourse on Method , and specified essentially in the Méditations on philosophy first ;
  • the man can only rest on the Raison, and does not need the “lights of the Foi” to reach knowledge ( Principles of philosophy ).
  • On the basis of these postulates, all knowledge rests on a news Métaphysique, including the Morale ( Principles of philosophy ).

It should be noted that Malebranche, which one regards as Cartesian, proposed of the steps which integrate God (see Occasionalisme).

Rupture with the scholastic

Being given its origin, which is based on the vision of the world of the 17th century, the Cartesianism is rather close to the mechanism, which it generated after the confirmation of the assumptions on the movement of planets carried out thanks to the mathematical formalism worked out by Newton.

The metaphysical of Descartes represents actually a rather radical rupture compared to that of the Philosophie scholastic, which had worked out a synthesis between the philosophy of Aristote and the Christianisme, and had defined with precision the concept of Substance (see also Fides and ratio . In the spirit of Descartes, the Cogito represents a principle first intended to replace the Main cause, such as she was imagined by Aristote and the Scolastique.

Principal philosophers who claimed Cartesianism

In the Netherlands

The diffusion of the Cartesian thought has as a hearth the Holland where Descartes lived of 1628 with 1649. The principal representatives of the Dutch Cartesianism were:

  • Henri Roy says Regius, disciple stirring up and cumbersome with which Descartes broke in 1647;

  • the scientist Christian Huygens (1629 - 1695).

In France

In France, the representatives of the Cartesianism were:

  • At the 18th century, of the doctors materialists, like Mettrie (1709 - 1751), will be claimed of Descartes.

To died of Descartes, its papers were entrusted to Clerselier which will in addition ensure the posthumous edition of many works of which in particular the Traité of the Man (1664).

Other filiations

Baruch Spinoza specified certain aspects of the thought of Descartes like:

Nicolas Malebranche (1638 - 1715) developed an interesting theory on the problem body-spirit (Occasionalisme), which avoids certain pitfalls of causality.

Limits and criticisms

Reception of the philosophy of Descartes

If one excludes the philosophers who declared cartésianime, contemporaries from Descartes often received rather coldly this philosophy, in particular the principles Métaphysique S exposed in the Méditations on philosophy first :

  • Thomas Hobbes was reserved, like Marin Mersenne itself,
  • Leibniz had a design of the Substance rather different from that of Descartes
  • John Locke was opposed to the Cartesian speculations on the nature of the heart and its relationship with the physiological movements.
  • Certaines personalities in the Netherlands found that the philosophy of Descartes was a Pélagianisme.
  • Blaise Pascal was not agreement either with Descartes, estimating that this philosophy could lead to the Déisme

Spinoza adhered to good number of principles metaphysics, but diverged on the questions from Perception.

Analytical reasoning

For Descartes, “there are not other ways which are offered to the men, to arrive at an unquestionable knowledge of the truth, which obvious intuition and the deduction necessary” (XII° regulates).

The thought of Descartes was often radicalized by later philosophers.

The fact is that in a complex world, and in permanent Interaction, all Intuition is not obvious. The Cartesian thought remains very analytical, and misses character Holistique which is today necessary to solve total problems, in Systémique for example. the “Cartesian” spirit can thus call too much upon a deductive form of reasoning, and not enough with its Intuition and induction.

Policy

Descartes engaged little on the policy.

Criticisms contemporary in connection with the ecological Crisis

Lastly, the ecological Crise total leads the contemporaries to revalue certain aspects of the thought of Descartes, last relatively unperceived until today, like this passage of the sixth part of the Discourse on Method:

“Instead of this speculative philosophy that one teaches in the schools, one can about it find a practice, by which, connoissant the force and the actions of fire, water, the air, the stars, the skies, and all the other bodies which surround us, as distinctly as we connoissons the various trades of our craftsmen, we could employ them in same way with all the uses to which they are clean, and thus to return to us as Masters and owners of nature. ”

Jean Bastaire estimates that this philosophy led the Westerners to a mentality of owner, whereas the vocation of the man is rather to be an intendant or a manager.

Posterity

At the 19th century, some Ideology S, like the current Saint-Simonian resulting from Claude Henri de Rouvroy of Saint-Simon and the positivism of Auguste Count claimed the successors of Descartes.

Recall of principal philosophical works of Descartes

One often retains Descartes his famous Discourse on Method 1637, and one forgets that his philosophical work comprises many other philosophical works, often ignored:

  • the Rules for the direction of the spirit , work unfinished, towards 1628,
  • the Discourse on Method is only the foreword with three important treaties: the Dioptric , where Descartes exposed its theory of the movement and the shock; the Meteors , with a theory of the rainbow; and finally the Geometry , which poses the bases of the algebraic Géométrie.
  • Meditations metaphysics , literal translation of Latin, Meditations on philosophy first, 1641, with six series of objections (of which those of Thomas Hobbes),
  • Treated passions
  • Principles of philosophy , 1644
  • Passions of the heart , 1649.
  • the Research of the truth by the natural lights

Descartes starts to mention its famous Cogito in the Discourse on Method , it is developed in the Méditations on philosophy first .

See the whole of the work of Descartes in the detailed article: Descartes

References

Random links:Grandcamp-Maisy | Michigan | High authority of fight against discriminations and for the equality | List communes of the province of Lérida | Striptease (film, 1963) | List sociologists (F) | Helen_Stephens