Charles Huenemann - Böcker

This volume, which grew out of a 1995 NEH seminar on the Rationalists, presents nineteen previously unpublished papers on the work of Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz. These three philosophers are the most important representatives of the 17th and 18th century movement known as rationalism, which can be characterized by the idea that knowledge can be acquired a priori, without sensory experience, from pure thought or reason. Particularly in epistemology and metaphysics, their work has remained at the centre of philosophical interest. The volume is thematically organized into three Parts: Matter and Substance, Freedom and Necessity, and Mind and Consciousness.

This collection presents some of the most vital and original recent writings on Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz, the three greatest rationalists of the early modern period. Their work offered brilliant and distinct integrations of science, morals, metaphysics, and religion, which today remain at the center of philosophical discussion. The essays written especially for this volume explore how these three philosophical systems treated matter, substance, human freedom, natural necessity, knowledge, mind, and consciousness. The contributors include some of the most prominent writers in the field, including Jonathan Bennett, Michael Della Rocca, Jan A. Cover, Catherine Wilson, Stephen Voss, Edwin Curley, Don Garrett, and Margaret D. Wilson.