DESCARTES, RENE

Additional reading Life Basic biographical sources are Descartes's own works and letters. Adrien Baillet, La Vie de Monsieur Des-Cartes, 2 vol. (1691, reprinted 1987), is a major source, notwithstanding its apologetic bias. Elizabeth S. Haldane, Descartes: His Life and Times (1905, reissued 1966), is an early modern biography; Charles Adam, Vie & oeuvres de Descartes: tude historique (1910), was published as part of the above-mentioned edition of complete works. See also Gustave Cohen, crivains franais en Hollande dans la premire moiti du XVIIe sicle (1920, reprinted 1976); Cornelia Serrurier, Descartes: l'homme et le penseur (1951; originally published in Dutch, 1930); Jack R. Vrooman, Ren Descartes: A Biography (1970); Jonathan Re, Descartes (1974); and Leon Pearl, Descartes (1977). Philosophy Descartes's philosophical doctrine is studied in many works, beginning with his contemporaries and continuing into present-day scholarship. See Benedictus de Spinoza, The Principles of Descartes' Philosophy, trans. from Latin by Halbert Hains Britan (1905, reprinted 1974); Henri Gouhier, Les Premires penses de Descartes: contribution l'histoire de l'anti-Renaissance, 2nd ed. (1979), and La Pense mtaphysique de Descartes, 4th ed. (1987); Jean Laporte, Le Rationalisme de Descartes (1950); Genevive Rodis-Lewis, L' OEuvre de Descartes, 2 vol. (1971); Maxime Leroy, Descartes: le philosophe au masque (1929); Norman Kemp Smith, New Studies in the Philosophy of Descartes: Descartes as Pioneer (1952, reprinted 1987); Willis Doney (ed.), Descartes: A Collection of Critical Essays (1967); Anthony Kenny, Descartes: A Study of His Philosophy (1968, reprinted 1987); and Ferdinand Alqui, Descartes, new ed. (1969), in French; Hiram Caton, The Origin of Subjectivity: An Essay on Descartes (1973); Margaret Dauler Wilson, Descartes (1978, reprinted 1982); E.M. Curley, Descartes Against the Skeptics (1978); Nicolas Grimaldi, L'Exprience de la pense dans la philosophie de Descartes (1978); Bernard Williams, Descartes: The Project of Pure Enquiry (1978); Michael Hooker (ed.), Descartes: Critical and Interpretative Essays (1978); John Cottingham, Descartes (1986); Peter J. Markie, Descartes's Gambit (1986); Willis Doney (ed.), Eternal Truths and the Cartesian Circle: A Collection of Studies (1987); Genevive Rodis-Lewis (ed.), Mthode et mtaphysique chez Descartes (1987); Gregor Sebba, The Dream of Descartes, ed. by Richard A. Watson (1987); and Theo Verbeek (ed.), La Querelle d'Utrecht: Ren Descartes et Martin Schoock (1988).Descartes's theology and ontology are explored in Etienne Gilson, tudes sur le rle de la pense mdivale dans la formation du systme cartsien, 4th ed. (1975); Henri Gouhier, La Pense religieuse de Descartes, 2nd rev. ed. (1972); J.-R. Armogathe, Theologia cartesiana: l'explication physique de l'Eucharistie chez Descartes et dom Desgabets (1977); Martial Guroult, Descartes' Philosophy Interpreted According to the Order of Reasons, 2 vol. (198485; originally published in French, 1953); and Jean-Luc Marion, Sur la thologie blanche de Descartes: analogie, cration des vrits ternelles et fondement (1981), Sur l'ontologie grise de Descartes: science cartsienne et savoir aristotlicien dans les Regulae (1975), and Sur le prisme mtaphysique de Descartes: constitution et limites de l'onto-tho-logie dans la pense cartsienne (1986). For Descartes the scientist and mathematician, see J.F. Scott, The Scientific Work of Ren Descartes (1952, reprinted 1987); Stephen Gaukroger (ed.), Descartes: Philosophy, Mathematics, and Physics (1980); Desmond M. Clarke, Descartes' Philosophy of Science (1982); Genevive Rodis-Lewis (ed.), La Science chez Descartes (1987); and William R. Shea, The Magic of Numbers and Motion: The Scientific Career of Ren Descartes (1991). Interpretative studies of Descartes's separate works include Ren Descartes, Discourse de la mthode, text and commentary by Etienne Gilson, 6th ed. (1987); Jean-Marie Beyssade, La Philosophie premire de Descartes: le temps et la cohrence de la mtaphysique (1979); Henri Gouhier, Descartes: essais sur le Discours de la mthode, la mtaphysique et la morale, 3rd ed. (1973); L.J. Beck, The Metaphysics of Descartes: A Study of the Meditations (1965, reprinted 1979); Alexander Sesonske and Noel Fleming (eds.), Meta-meditations (1965); Frederick Broadie, An Approach to Descartes' Meditations (1970); Harry G. Frankfurt, Demons, Dreamers, and Madmen: The Defense of Reason in Descartes's Meditations (1970, reprinted 1987); Richard B. Carter, Descartes' Medical Philosophy: The Organic Solution to the Mind-Body Problem (1983); and Amlie Oksenberg Rorty (ed.), Essays on Descartes' Meditations (1986). Bibliographies Gregor Sebba, Bibliographia Cartesiana: A Critical Guide to the Descartes Literature, 18001960 (1964), is an informative bibliography covering biographical and doctrinal books and articles. See also Vere Chappell and Willis Doney (eds.), Twenty-Five Years of Descartes Scholarship, 19601984: A Bibliography (1987). Richard A. Watson Major Works: The history of the original works and their early translations into English is as follows: Musicae Compendium (written 1618, published 1650); Renatus Des-Cartes Excellent Compendium of Musick (1653); Regulae ad Directionem Ingenii (written 1628, published 1701); Le Monde de Mr Descartes; ou, le trait de la lumire (written 1633, published 1664); Discours de la mthode pour bien conduire sa raison, & chercher la verit dans les sciences. Plus la dioptrique; les meteores; et la geometrie (1637; A Discourse of a Method for the Wel-guiding of Reason, and the Discovery of Truth in Sciences, 1649); Meditationes de Prima Philosophia (1641; and its 2nd ed., with Objectiones Septimae, 1642; Six Metaphysical Meditations; Wherein It Is Proved That There Is a God, 1680); Principia Philosophiae (1644); and Les Passions de l'me (1649; The Passions of the Soule, 1650).Descartes's correspondence has been collected in Lettres de Mr Descartes: o sont traittes plusieurs belles questions touchant la morale, physique, medecine, & les mathematiques, ed. by Claude Clerselier, 3 vol. (166667); and Correspondance, ed. by Charles Adam and Gaston Milhaud, 8 vol. (193663, reprinted 1970). The standard edition of complete works is the multivolume Oeuvres de Descartes, ed. by Charles Adam and Paul Tannery, published several times since it appeared in 12 vol. with a supplement in 18971913. See it in a later edition, 11 vol. in 13 (197482). It includes Descartes's correspondence.Modern translations into English, many with valuable commentaries, include such selections as The Philosophical Works of Descartes, trans. by Elizabeth S. Haldane and G.R.T. Ross, 2 vol. (191112, reprinted 1978); The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, trans. by John Cottingham, Robert Stoothoff, and Dugald Murdoch, 2 vol. (198485); Descartes: Philosophical Letters, trans. and ed. by Anthony Kenny (1970, reprinted 1981); Descartes' Conversation with Burman, trans. by John Cottingham (1976); Le Monde; ou, trait de la lumire, trans. into English by Michael Sean Mahoney (1979); Treatise of Man, trans. by Thomas Steele Hall (1972); Discourse on Method, Optics, Geometry, and Meteorology, trans. by Paul J. Olscamp (1965); Principles of Philosophy, trans. by Valentine Rodger Miller and Reese P. Miller (1983); The Passions of the Soul, trans. by Stephen Voss (1989); and Descartes, His Moral Philosophy and Psychology, trans. by John J. Blom (1978).