Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings [Paperback]

René Descartes (Author), John Cottingham (Translator), Robert Stoothoff (Translator), Dugald Murdoch (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521358124 | ISBN-13: 978-0521358125 | Publication Date: February 26, 1988

Based on the new and much acclaimed two volume Cambridge edition of The Philosophical Writings of Descartes by Cottingham, Stoothoff, and Murdoch, this anthology of essential texts contains the most important and widely studied of those writings, including the Discourse and Meditations and substantial extracts from the Regulae, Optics, Principles, Objections and Replies, Comments on a Broadsheet, and Passions of the Soul.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'This new translation is designed as a replacement for the old but still widely used translation by Elizabeth Haldane and G. R. T. Ross ... Unlike the Haldane and Ross edition which was translated from a composite text based on both the French and Latin editions, the present translation is made from the Latin text alone, with significant changes in the French edition indicated in the footnotes. This is clearly much more satisfactory. The translation is generally accurate, and is neither excessively free nor excessively literal ... There is little doubt that this will become the standard translation of Descartes' philosophical writings, and it deserves a warm welcome.' French Studies

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 249 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (February 26, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521358124
• ISBN-13: 978-0521358125
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,719 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Descartes' Basic Writings, August 11, 2001

By 

D. S. Heersink "D. Stephen Heersink" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings (Paperback)

This first volume in a two-volume set contains: (1) Rules for the Direction of our Native Intelligence, (2) Discourse on the Method, (3) Optics, (4) Meditations on First Philosophy (together with Objections and Replies), (5) Principles of Philosophy, (6) Comments on a Certain Broadsheet, and (7) The Passions of the Soul. The only book missing from this great volume is Descartes' Geometry, but given the breadth and depth of the current volume, such an omission is understandable.

The translation is among the very best, with the consistent use of nouns and verbs and direct objects throughout the various texts. The book is accompanied by an excellent index, and an occasional note only when absolutely necessary. The text is allowed to speak for itself, and this it does with aplomb.

My only regret is my copy is not printed on acid-free paper, and after a decade is already beginning to age prematurely. This one complaint aside, this volume is both well written and covers Descartes' best ideas. This particular volume belongs in all serious students' and collegiate libraries.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rationalist approach to controlling human passions, September 25, 2009

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Michael A Neulander "Political Philosophy" (VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings (Paperback)

I read Descartes The Passions of the Soul from the Philosophical Works Of Descartes, translated by John Cottingham, Robert Stoothhoff, Dugald Murdoch, for a graduate class in ethics. This is the best translation of several I examined. I was particularly interested in studying Descartes' understanding of the virtue of courage. It is fitting that Descartes left the discipline of moral philosophy as his last project, considering years earlier, in his Principles of Philosophy, he metaphorically explains the whole order of philosophy by using a tree as his example. "The roots are metaphysics, the trunk is physics, and the branches emerging from the trunk are all the other sciences, which may be reduced to three principal ones, namely medicine, mechanics and morals." (Principles of Philosophy, vol. 1 of The Philosophical Works Of Descartes, 186, (AT IXB, 14). Descartes' correspondence with Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia produces the first fruit of his ethical theory when she asked him questions about how the "passions" (emotions) are ruled by either the "soul" (mind) or the body considering they are separate entities. Descartes' answer to the Princess was, that the body causes the soul to have feelings and passions, and the soul causes the body to move, through an inexplicable `union' between the soul and the body. After a year of correspondence in which she received more than a few obtuse answers from Descartes, she asked him to provide a definition of the passions so that they could be easily understood. With this mission before him, Descartes in The Passions of the Soul published in 1649, makes a rational study of people's ethical behavior, relying on physiological as well as psychological explanations regarding the interplay between the body mind and emotive passionate forces that take place within people beings and cause their actions.

In Descartes' first paragraph in his Passions, he challenges the wisdom of classical Greek notions of how people's passions influence ethics. "...the teachings of the ancients about the passions are so meager and for the most part so implausible that I cannot hope to approach the truth except by departing from the paths they have followed. That is why I shall be obliged to write just as if I were considering a topic that no one had dealt with before me." (The Passions of the Soul (AT XI, 327-328). Descartes divides his treatise on the Passions into three parts. Part I examines the mind and body relationship in physiological terminology, part II is a general classification of the passions and their functions, and part III makes a psychoanalytical study of individual passions.

However, when one reads Descartes' ethical writing, one finds that he is not a tabula rasa. There is a Stoic influence to Descartes' ethical project the overriding aim of the Passions is to inform the reader on how to master the passions so that they will be an indispensable resource for the will in determining right action. In addition, Descartes turns away from the dominance of the Church and Aquinas' theological approach to ethics. In Descartes' earlier work Meditations on First Philosophy, he argues against Aquinas' notion that contemplation of the divine will bring bliss in this life. Descartes believes the reward of divine contemplation is reserved for the afterlife. He argues that philosophical contemplation will bring joy in this life. (Meditations on First Philosophy, vol. 2 of The Philosophical Works Of Descartes, 36, (AT VII, 52). I find that in reading the Passions, one instantly recognizes Descartes' methodology. It is with a mathematician's precision that Descartes conducts his ethical investigation, befitting the "new science" of the Enlightenment in which to develop his notions regarding how the passions work in relation to people's conduct.

In article 40 of the Passions, Descartes gives his description of the role the passions have in conjunction with the human "soul" (reason or will) to manifest ethical action. For example, he states, "Thus the feeling of fear moves the soul to want to flee, that of courage to want to fight, and similarly with the others." In article 68, Descartes maintains that there are six main passions; wonder, love, hate, desire, joy, and sadness. In article 69, Descartes makes the point that there are a plethora of passions that fall under the six main passions listed in article 68 that act on the soul, and he devotes a good part of the rest of his book defining them. (Descartes, Passions, 352-353, (AT XI, 68-69).

However, in article 50 Descartes argues that everyone can use their powers of reason and judgment to subdue their passion of fear. "Even those who have the weakest souls could acquire absolute mastery over all their passions if we employed sufficient ingenuity in training and guiding them." (Descartes, Passions, 348, (AT XI, 50). This statement is very reminiscent of the philosophical notions that the Stoics had in regards to preparing one to act virtuously. In the closing section of his notion on how the passions work in relation to a person's will to do good Descartes states, "But the chief use of wisdom lies in its teaching us to be masters of our passions and to control them with such skill that the evils which they cause are quite bearable, and even become a source of joy." As cited in Descartes, Passions, 404, (AT XI, 212). In addition, Descartes theorizes that people's passions are aimed toward preserving the body, while our soul is directed towards using reason and the wisdom of judgment to perform "good" acts. With this backdrop on Descartes' theory of how people's passions interplay with judgment and will, it is time to hone in on his notions concerning courage.

In part III of Descartes' Passions, article 171 entitled Courage and boldness is where he defines both words. "Courage, when a passion and not a habit or natural inclination, is a certain heat or agitation which disposes the soul to apply itself energetically to accomplish the tasks it wants to perform, whatever their nature may be." (Descartes, Passions, 391, (AT XI, 171). Descartes believes that some people are inclined to act courageously or do so through habit, which presupposes one has been educated to do so, which is reminiscent of Plato's definition. Descartes then goes on to define boldness. "And boldness is a kind of courage which disposes the soul to carry out the most dangerous tasks." (Descartes, Passions, 391, (AT XI, 171). Descartes places the word courage in a scientific context when he further argues, "For we may regard courage as a genus which divides into as many species as it has different objects, and into as many others as it has causes: boldness is a species of courage in the first sense, and emulation in the second." (Descartes, Passions, 391, (AT XI, 172). In this article, Descartes is theorizing that an agent can perform acts of courage because she can "emulate" the courageous examples of others. In article 172, he further posits that, "Emulation is also a kind of courage, but in another sense." (Descartes, Passions, 391, (AT XI, 172). Descartes' definition implies a whole scale of actions that are not physically dangerous but recognized as courageous all the way up to acts of boldness, which run the risk of life or limb. Descartes also defines passions that work as opposite forces to the passions of courage and boldness--timidity and fear.

In article 174 of the Passions, Descartes juxtaposes timidity with courage and defines it. "Timidity is directly opposed to courage. It is listlessness or coldness which prevents the soul from bringing itself to carry out the tasks which it would perform if it were free from passion." (Descartes, Passions, 392, (AT XI, 174). In addition, boldness also has an opposite, fear, which he defines as well. "And fear or terror, which is opposed to boldness, is not only a coldness, but also a disturbance and astonishment of the soul which deprives it of the power to resist evils which it thinks lie close at hand." (Descartes, Passions, 392, (AT XI, 174). In articles 175 and 176, Descartes complains that he is at a loss to understand the real function that the passions of timidity and fear serve, since those whose souls are stymied by them have to be vigilant and increase their hope and desire to ultimately overcome these passions so the soul can perform good acts. "Although I cannot believe that nature has given to mankind any passion which is always vicious and has no good or praiseworthy function, I still find it very difficult to guess what purpose these two passions might serve." (Descartes, Passions, 392, (AT XI, 175). However, I posit that Descartes' juxtaposing courage with timidity and boldness with fear is somewhat reminiscent of the classical Greek notion of a virtuous person using the "golden mean" of moderation to strike the correct balance in their lives.

In article 45, I find that Descartes comes very close to Aristotle's interpretation of the virtue of courage in the following statement. "In order to arouse boldness and suppress fear in ourselves, it is not sufficient to have the volition to do so. We must apply ourselves to consider the reasons, objects, or precedents which persuade us that the danger is not great; that there is always more security in defense than in flight." (Descartes, Passions, 345, (AT XI, 45).

Essentially Descartes argues that people must use what the Greeks refer to as epistçmç [reason] to reject their weaker passions of timidity and fear from dominating their behavior. Therefore, Descartes' main break with the classical Greek model of courage is that Descartes has us rely on pure reason instead of relying on phronçsis [practical wisdom or acting well in human affairs] as our guide to act courageously. Thus, by Descartes... Read more ›

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, shoddy binding, December 27, 2009

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C. Mancini (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings (Paperback)

Its too hard to actually critique on of the most philosophically important books of all time. While Descartes views have been discredited over the years as views of philosophy have shifted radically in their paradigms, his work still remains foundational (pun intended).

This book's binding is one of the worst I have eve seen though. It literally split as I opened to read it. I don't know what they use for glue but pages were almost falling out during my philosophy class, and I started with a brand new copy. Stay away from this edition if you intend to keep it on your shelf for years.