Descartes: A Study Of His Philosophy (Key Texts) [Paperback]

Anthony Kenny (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Kenny's Descartes is a notably good and important book. He says it is 'designed to help undergraduate and graduate students in understanding Descartes' philosophy.' The book concentrates on Descartes' epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind; but the penultimate chapter, on Matter and Motion, contains a succinct account of Descartes' mechanism and a critique of the a priori side of his natural philosophy." -- The Philosophical Quarterly --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: St. Augustines Press; 1 edition (July 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890318132
• ISBN-13: 978-1890318130
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,673,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars After you've read Descartes, turn here., May 19, 2002

By 

Benjamin E. Murphy (El Dorarado, Panama Panama) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Descartes A Study Of His Philosophy (Key Texts) (Paperback)

What a pity this book is out of print. Kenny's book on Descartes does not take the reader as far into the deeps of philosophy as Bernard Williams, and the book is not up to date. But Kenny is an intelligent philosopher and, furthermore, he is one of the best writers of philosophical prose. Undergraduates, who have just read some of Descartes' own work can read Kenny, understand the issues that he raises and, very often, they will come away with some idea of where they disagree with Kenny. This is an excellent book for teaching students, by example, how to respond intelligently to the thoughts of a great philosopher.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well worth the read, May 17, 2008

By 

IWB (CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Descartes: A Study Of His Philosophy (Key Texts) (Paperback)

This is an excellent study of Descartes' philosophy. It is more in depth than an introductory work, but not as ambitious as Bernard William's The Project of Pure Inquiry. It is not, however, an advanced critical approach to Descartes' philosophy, but nonetheless fits the bill of being sufficiently philosophically interesting and substantial.

Kenny's treatment is just another book covering all the usual Cartesian suspects: e.g., res extensia, res cogitans, innate ideas (e.g. God, Substance), mind and body, reason and intuition. But Kenny does it so much better than most others, and his precise and clear presentation makes it easy reading, and appropriate for advanced undergrads and beginning grad students.

The book also includes a section on an aspect of Cartesian thought that is usually passed over in a work like this one. It includes a nice (but brief) section on Descartes' view of matter and motion, and Kenny's explication in this section is a classic formulation and critique.