DESCARTES AND METHOD

Through a careful and rigorous examination of Descartes' scattered remarks on the method and its application in his scientific and mathematical works, Daniel E. Flage and Clarence A. Bonnen develop a systematic account of the method and its role in the Meditations. In the first part of Descartes and Method , Flage and Bonnen interpret the Cartesian search for essences as both a search for laws and conceptual elucidation. In the second half, we see that each meditation is examined in light of the interpretation of method. The interplay between the search for general principles and the clarification of ideas looms large in the discussions of Mediations II and III. This book explains how Descartes' last three meditations do nothing more than reveal the implications of Gods non-deceptiveness. We see then, that in the end, Descartes, the great rationalist, specifies the scope and limits of empiricism. Unparalleled in any other work, Descartes and Method delineates the role of the method ofanalysis in the Meditations. Anyone wishing to gain a new understanding of Descartes' Meditations should read this book.