Descartes

The Renewal of Philosophy

Steven Nadler

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English

Reaktion Books
01 June 2023

Biography: general; Philosophy; Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900

Series: Renaissance Lives

A critical biography of René Descartes, whose first principle (“I think therefore I am.”) reshaped modern philosophy.

Often called ‘the father of modern philosophy’, René Descartes’ contributions to philosophy, mathematics and natural science set the intellectual agenda for the seventeenth century. In this biography and assessment of his works, based on the most up-to-date research, Steven Nadler follows Descartes from his early years and education in France to the Dutch Republic, where he lived most of his adult life, to his final months as tutor to Queen Christina of Sweden.

Nadler shows how Descartes’ ‘renewal’ of philosophy involved a transformation in both the way in which philosophy is done and the fundamental understanding of the cosmos, the natural world and human nature. His work was a springboard for many of the metaphysical and epistemological problems that continue to engage philosophers today.

'Steven Nadler’s outstanding biography achieves a fine balance of life, ideas and context, allowing Descartes’s philosophy to emerge from its eclectic seventeenth-century milieu in all its dazzling originality and strangeness. Lucid, compelling and unfailingly judicious, this is a marvelous new study of a magisterial modern thinker.' — Clare Carlisle Tresch, King’s College London

By: Steven Nadler
Imprint: Reaktion Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
ISBN: 9781789146837
ISBN 10: 1789146836
Series: Renaissance Lives
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 01 June 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Steven Nadler is Vilas Research Professor and William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his books include Think Least of Death: Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die (2020).

Reviews for Descartes: The Renewal of Philosophy

Steven Nadler's outstanding biography achieves a fine balance of life, ideas and context, allowing Descartes's philosophy to emerge from its eclectic seventeenth-century milieu in all its dazzling originality and strangeness. Lucid, compelling and unfailingly judicious, this is a marvelous new study of a magisterial modern thinker. --Clare Carlisle Tresch, King's College London