Socrates Meets Descartes: The Father of Philosophy Analyzes the Father of Modern Philosophy's Discourse on Method [Paperback]

Peter Kreeft (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2007

This is the 5th volume in the series of popular, small volumes by the well-known philosophy professor and prolific author, Peter Kreeft, in which the "Father of Philosophy", Socrates, cross-examines various other important philosophers and thinkers (in previous books he examined Marx, Sarte, Machiavelli, and Socrates himself.)

In this work, Kreeft states that Socrates and Descartes are perhaps the two most important philosophers who have ever lived, because they are the two who made the most difference to all philosophy after them. These two fathers of philosophy stand at the beginning of the two basic philosophical options: the classical and the modern.

Kreeft focuses on seven features that unite these two major philosophers and distinguish them from all others. So this dialog between Socrates and Descartes is a dialog between the fundamental stages in the history of philosophy, the history of consciousness, and the history of Western culture.

Like his other works in this popular series, this book is profound and witty reading that makes for an entertaining and insightful exploration of modern philosophy. It will appeal to both the common reader as well as to those more philosophically inclined.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Ignatius Press (November 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586171887
• ISBN-13: 978-1586171889
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter J. Kreeft (Ph.D., Fordham University) is professor of philosophy at Boston College where he has taught since 1965. A popular lecturer, he has also taught at many other colleges, seminaries and educational institutions in the eastern United States. Kreeft has written more than sixty-seven books, including The Best Things in Life, Christianity for Modern Pagans, Fundamentals of the Faith and The Handbook of Christian Apologetics.

Dr. Kreeft's MP3 audio lectures can be purchased on Amazon, such as
"Christianity in Lord of the Rings".

Free articles, audio lectures, the speaking schedule and more info from Dr. Peter Kreeft can be found at his popular web site:
http://www.peterkreeft.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a great read, September 19, 2008

By 

Bobby Bambino (Lebanon, NH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Socrates Meets Descartes: The Father of Philosophy Analyzes the Father of Modern Philosophy's Discourse on Method (Paperback)

This is written in a dialog format between Descartes and Socrates. It is a great introduction to Discourse on Method. Kreeft makes it easy for those of us who don't have much of a background in philosophy to understand what Descartes was teaching and the errors it contained. I can't wait to read Kreeft's other books in this series!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine and hilarious introduction to Descartes' philosophy, June 30, 2011

By 

George P. Wood (Springfield, MO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Socrates Meets Descartes: The Father of Philosophy Analyzes the Father of Modern Philosophy's Discourse on Method (Paperback)

René Descartes dies and goes to Purgatory. Socrates meets him there and interrogates him about his rationalist philosophy. For good measure, Blaise Pascal makes a cameo appearance at the end of the dialogue.

That is the hilarious setup for Peter Kreeft's excellent introduction to Descartes' Discourse on Method, which introductory philosophy students and interested laypeople can read for both fun and profit. Kreeft uses a similar setup for his introduction to other philosophers including Plato, Niccolo Machiavelli, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, and Jean-Paul Sartre.

Descartes is the father of modern philosophy, which is characterized by a "subjective turn" from metaphysics to epistemology. He wrote in the aftermath of the Thirty Years War, a conflict that caused many to doubt the peace-making ability of religion and to seek that peace-making ability through rational inquiry divorced from religious authority. For Descartes that rational inquiry involved the application of a rationalistic method to philosophical investigation. The method began by doubting everything until an indubitable foundation of clear and distinct ideas was laid. For Descartes, the first such clear and distinct idea is cogito ergo sum, "I think, therefore I am."

From the indubitability of the knowing subject, Descartes went on to make a rational case for the existence of the mind distinct from the body, the existence of God, and the existence of the material world. Unfortunately, the cogito--at least the implications of the cogito--bequeathed to subsequent philosophy an unsolvable mind-body problem that has convinced many that Descartes' anthropology is fundamentally wrong. Moreover, far from settling debates, Descartes' rational method engendered only new debates.

The dialogue Kreeft crafts between Socrates and Descartes fairly lays out Descartes' the historical context and substance of Descartes' philosophy, acknowledges what it got right, demonstrates what it got wrong, and leaves open a number of debatable issues for the reader to decide on his or her own. Reading Kreeft on Descartes motivated me to go back and re-read Descartes, whom I first read as an undergraduate philosophy major. For me, an introduction that so motivates its readers has succeeded admirably.

I highly recommend Socrates Meets Descartes.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Socrates Duals Descartes, June 4, 2010

By 

Mike Robinson "Mike A Robinson: Apologetic An... (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Socrates Meets Descartes: The Father of Philosophy Analyzes the Father of Modern Philosophy's Discourse on Method (Paperback)

One time, a young student of Socrates asked the revered sage how one becomes wise. Socrates brought the pupil to a nearby pond and the two went in the water. Then, without warning, Socrates held the student's head under the water as the frenzied young man fought wildly. Finally, Socrates freed him. The young man struggled for breath, panted, and gulped. Socrates watched coolly and said, "When you desire wisdom with the same intensity that you desired to breathe, then nothing will impede you from getting it." And in this fifth volume in the series of philosophical volumes by Peter Kreeft, the author employs Socrates to cross-examine an assortment of notable philosophers and thinkers (including Christ, Kant, Marx, Sarte, Machiavelli, and Plato) to assist the reader in gaining wisdom.

In this erudite yet accessible volume, Kreeft believes that Socrates and his interviewee Descartes are conceivably two of most significant philosophers in history inasmuch as they made a lasting impact on all the great philosophers who followed them: the ancient Greek and the one who helped birth modern philosophy.

Descartes famously said:"I think therefore I am." Nevertheless he also opined that "Everything is self-evident." Thus Socrates has many places to initiate his Socratic method in his dialogue with Descartes.

This fascinating and readable volume is reflective, insightful, and produces contemplation and enjoyment. "Socrates Meets" is a good text to help stimulate an interest in epistemology as well as general philosophy.

Descartes mused: "Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."

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