The Young Descartes

The Young Descartes
Author: Harold J. Cook
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2018-03-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 022654009X

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René Descartes is best known as the man who coined the phrase “I think, therefore I am.” But though he is remembered most as a thinker, Descartes, the man, was no disembodied mind, theorizing at great remove from the worldly affairs and concerns of his time. Far from it. As a young nobleman, Descartes was a soldier and courtier who took part in some of the greatest events of his generation—a man who would not seem out of place in the pages of The Three Musketeers. In The Young Descartes, Harold J. Cook tells the story of a man who did not set out to become an author or philosopher—Descartes began publishing only after the age of forty. Rather, for years he traveled throughout Europe in diplomacy and at war. He was present at the opening events of the Thirty Years' War in Central Europe and Northern Italy, and was also later involved in struggles within France. Enduring exile, scandals, and courtly intrigue, on his journeys Descartes associated with many of the most innovative free thinkers and poets of his day, as well as great noblemen, noblewomen, and charismatic religious reformers. In his personal life, he expressed love for men as well as women and was accused of libertinism by his adversaries. These early years on the move, in touch with powerful people and great events, and his experiences with military engineering and philosophical materialism all shaped the thinker and philosopher Descartes became in exile, where he would begin to write and publish, with purpose. But though it is these writings that made ultimately made him famous, The Young Descartes shows that this story of his early life and the tumultuous times that molded him is sure to spark a reappraisal of his philosophy and legacy.


The Young Descartes
Language: en
Pages: 293
Authors: Harold J. Cook
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-03-28 - Publisher: University of Chicago Press

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René Descartes is best known as the man who coined the phrase “I think, therefore I am.” But though he is remembered most as a thinker, Descartes, the man,
Descartes' Baby
Language: en
Pages: 288
Authors: Paul Bloom
Categories: Psychology
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-06-08 - Publisher: Random House

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Why is a forgery worth so much less than an original work of art?What's so funny about someone slipping on a banana peel? Why, as Freud once asked, is a man wil
Descartes's Secret Notebook
Language: en
Pages: 290
Authors: Amir D. Aczel
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2006-10-10 - Publisher: Crown

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René Descartes (1596–1650) is one of the towering and central figures in Western philosophy and mathematics. His apothegm “Cogito, ergo sum” marked the b
Big Ideas for Little Philosophers: Happiness with Aristotle
Language: en
Pages: 20
Authors: Duane Armitage
Categories: Juvenile Nonfiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-07-07 - Publisher: Penguin

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Explore the importance of happiness with the youngest readers in a wonderfully accessible way. Even little children have big questions about life. Finding happi
Descartes
Language: en
Pages: 340
Authors: A. C. Grayling
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-05-26 - Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

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Scientist, mathematician, traveler, soldier-and spy-Rene Descartes was one of the founders of the modern world. His life coincided with an extraordinary time in