The editors have put together a large number of essays covering a wide range of topics with a good balance among the three philosophers ... A second strength is originality ... A third strength is currency; the essays generally examine 'hot topics' ... The collection includes some of the most prominent players.

• Introduction Part I - Matter and Substance 1.: Jonathan Bennett, Syracuse University: Space and Subtle Matter in Descartes's Metaphysics 2.: Eric Palmer, Allegheny College, Pennsylvania: Descartes on Nothing in Particular 3.: Michael Della Rocca, Yale University: "If a Body Meets a Body": Descartes on Body-Body Causation 4.: Mathew Stuart, Bowdoin College, Maine: Descartes's Extended Substances 5.: Jan A. Cover, Purdue University: Spinoza's Extended Substance: Cartesian and Leibnizian Reflections 6.: Samuel Levey, Dartmouth College: Leibniz's Constructivism and Infinitely Folded Matter 7.: Susanna Goodin, University of Wyoming: Locke and Leibniz and the Debate over Species Part II - Freedom and Necessity 8.: Joseph Keim Campbell, Washington State University: Descartes on Spontaneity, Indifference, and Alternatives 9.: Eric Sotnak, University of Akron, Ohio: The Range of Leibnizian Compatibilism 10.: Charles Huenemann, Utah State University: The Necessity of Finite Modes and Geometrical Containment in Spinoza's Metaphysics 11.: Edwin Curley and Gregory Walski, both at University of Michigan: Spinoza's Necessitarianism Reconsidered Part III - Mind and Consciousness 12.: Stephen Voss, Bogazici University, Turkey: A Spectator at the Theater of the World 13.: Clarence Bonnen and Daniel Flage, both at James Madison University, Virginia: Distinctness 14.: Geoffrey Gorham, Cornell College, Iowa: Causation and Similarity in Descartes 15.: Don Garret, University of Utah: Teleology in Spinoza and Early Modern Rationalism 16.: Margaret D. Wilson, Princeton University: "For They Do Not Agree In Nature With Us": Spinoza on the Lower Animals 17.: Rocco J. Gennaro, Indiana State University: Leibniz on Consciousness and Self-Consciousness 18.: Catherine Wilson, University of Alberta, Canada: The Illusory Nature of Leibniz's System Bibliography Index