Descartes' Theory of Ideas (Hardcover)

Descartes held that only ideas are immediately perceived, and that all ideas are really identical to mental states. Yet certain passages in the Meditations seem to assert that some extramental individuals -- the sun, for example, or a piece of wax -- can be immediately perceived (not by the senses, but by the intellect). If so then Descartes was committed to the seemingly absurd claim that extramental things can be really identical to mental states. But the claim is not absurd; as this book shows, it is based on a coherent doctrine of intentional representation that was taught at the Jesuit college of La Fleche that Descartes attended as a youth. On this doctrine, an individual that is outside the mind with one sort of being can be inside it with another. This book brings a fresh perspective to the currently deadlocked debate over whether Descartes was a representationalist or a direct realist, and sheds new light on his difficult notions of material falsity and the self-representational character of thought.

General

Imprint:	Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Continuum Studies in Philosophy
Release date:	May 2007
First published:	July 2007
Authors:	David Clemenson
Dimensions:	234 x 156 x 18mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	176
ISBN-13:	978-0-8264-8773-5
Languages:	English
Subtitles:	English
Categories:	Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Philosophy of mind Books > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Philosophy of mind Promotions
LSN:	0-8264-8773-4
Barcode:	9780826487735

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